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OF  THE 


What  of  the  City? 

America's  Greatest  Issue  —  City  Planning 

What  It  Is  and  How  to  Go  About 

It  to  Achieve   Success 


BY 

WALTER  D.  MOODY 

Managing  Director,  Chicago  Plan  Commission.     Author  of 

"Wacker's  Manual  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago" 

and  "Men  Who  Sell  Things" 


CHICAGO 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

1919 


Copyright         , 
A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 
1919 

Published,   April,    1919 


C^pyriehfd  in  Great  Britain 


W.   F.   HALl    PRINTING  COMPANY,  CHICAOO 


iv| 


H 


tCo  iHp  WSiitt 

ALWAYS  A  SOURCE  OF 

INSPIRATION,  ENCOURAGEMENT,  AND 

REAL  HELP 


422790 


PREFACE 

THE  constant  movement  of  people  toward  cities  in 
the  United  States  is  unprecedented.  The  growth 
of  cities  in  the  past  two  decades  has  been  phenomenal. 
This  has  brought  about  alarming  conditions,  and  new  and 
troublesome  problems.  American  cities  as  a  result  of 
lack  of  foresight  on  the  part  of  their  proprietors  have 
developed  in  a  haphazard  way.  The  result  has  been 
a  change  in  the  national  character;  a  marked  deteriora- 
tion in  the  physique  of  the  people;  vast  economic  loss; 
and  an  imperative  need  for  bettering  conditions. 

What  we  must  do  is  to  discover  our  needs,  and  how 
to  go  about  supplying  them.  Making  the  cities  more 
livable  for  the  masses  swarming  to  them  is  today  the 
greatest  issue  of  the  United  States.  The  Great  War 
has  served  to  intensify  rather  than  to  dim  the  need  of 
the  people  in  the  cities. 

City  planning  has  become  a  fad  and  something  like 
two  hundred  cities  in  this  country  have  taken  it  up  ten- 
tatively with  only  fragmentary  plans ;  some  with  park 
ideals ;  still  others  with  civic  center  creations ;  some  with 
only  transportation  notions.  Some  few  merely  have 
single  street  improvement  plans.  All  is  called  "  city  plan- 
ning"—  that  is  exactly- what  it  is  not  and  in  the  rapid 
development  of  cities  may  even  be  city  unplanning. 

Of  all  the  American  cities  that  have  attempted  city 
planning,  hardly  a  dozen  have  made  any  real  progress  be- 

vii 


PREFACE 

cause  of  their  failure  to  realize  the  fundamental  value  of 
scientific  promotional  effort.  Misapplied  energy  has  also 
been  a  common  fault.  Two-thirds  of  all  the  failures  in 
city  planning  in  the  country  are  due  to  these  two  causes. 

With  the  reconstruction  period  following  the  Great 
War,  no  energy  needs  more  to  be  conserved  and  directed 
in  effective  channels  than  city  planning.  New  and  stu- 
pendous problems  confront  America,  in  which  the  ques- 
tion of  the  welfare  of  the  people  is  of  fundamental  im- 
portance. Despite  the  fact  that  money  will  be  needed  in 
many  directions,  city  betterment  projects  as  matters  of 
prime  importance  should  receive  helpful  consideration. 

Grave  pre-war  municipal  problems  remain  unchanged 
by  the  great  world  conflict ;  but  they  have  become  intensi- 
fied. During  the  war  American  cities  could  act  in  defense 
of  their  welfare  only  as  the  national  government  decreed, 
and  were  temporarily  lost  sight  of  in  the  fervor  and 
exigency  of  war  preparations  and  maintenance.  Now 
our  municipalities  are  crying  aloud  for  relief. 

As  long  ago  as  December,  19 17,  the  chairman  of  the 
Chicago  Plan  Commission  called  attention  to  the  impera- 
tive need  of  preparing  for  peace  when  urging  the  contin- 
uation of  preliminary  work  on  certain  city  betterment 
projects.  He  indicated  that  the  abandonment  of  city 
planning  effort  would  leave  our  country  as  unprepared 
for  peace  as  it  was  for  war.  The  abrupt  ending  of  the 
great  struggle  brought  about  the  very  conditions  he  fore- 
cast. The  press  of  the  country  in  advocating  a  recon- 
struction program  called  universal  attention  to  the  fact 
that  England  and  France  had  a  two-year  start  in  the  fight 
for  commercial  supremacy. 

viii 


PREFACE 

In  England,  according  to  press  reports,  as  early  as 
August,  1917,  parliament  created  a  ministry  of  recon- 
struction to  solve  the  problems  of  demobilization  and  the 
return  of  the  soldiers  to  civil  life  in  such  a  way  as  to 
avoid  unemployment  and  to  provide  proper  housing,  wel- 
fare, taxation,  and  industrial  relation  schemes  and  plans 
for  commercial  competition  for  the  world's  markets.  Co- 
operation was  to  be  the  keynote  of  British  commercial 
preparation ;  cooperation  between  industry  and  banking 
to  finance  export  trade ;  between  manufacturers  in  the 
same  line  of  industry  to  reduce  overhead  and  increase 
output;  between  business  and  the  government  to  obtain 
commercial  information.  A  comprehensive  survey  was 
early  made  of  the  nature  and  amount  of  the  supplies  that 
would  be  needed  by  the  United  Kingdom  during  the  re- 
construction period,  and  the  sources  from  which  they 
might  be  obtained  and  transported. 

Standardization  was  also  urged  upon  British  manu- 
facture to  lower  the  cost  of  production ;  a  new  tariff  was 
suggested;  and  various  other  means  were  employed  to 
insure  England's  supremacy  in  the  world's  markets. 

Our  unpreparedness,  in  contrast,  only  intensifies  the 
urgency  of  vigorous  and  sustained  effort  along  city 
planning  lines,  because  of  its  fundamental  importance  in 
all  that  the  word  preparedness  implies.  Consequences 
of  the  most  serious  character  cannot  but  result  from  any 
cessation  of  unremitting  and  aggressive  city  planning 
agitation  and  accomplishment  in  American  municipali- 
ties. 

Beyond  the  certain  conviction  that  national  and  civic 
needs  can  be  coordinated,  these  pages  are  designed  to 


PREFACE 

show  city  planning  effort  in  the  United  States,  what  is 
necessary  and  how  to  go  about  it  in  achieving  success. 

The  aim  of  the  author  in  this  book  has  been  twofold. 
First  it  was  hoped  that  in  these  pages  the  professional 
city  planner  might  find  inspiration  and  guidance  from 
Chicago's  accomplishments  and  experience.  The  other 
purpose  was  to  indicate  to  citizens  their  obligations 
toward  city  planning  movements  and,  by  depicting  the 
cultural,  commercial,  and  elemental  conditions  in  Chicago 
which  culminated  in  its  city  plan,  to  inspire  and  spur  to 
action  the  citizens  of  other  municipalities.  These  two 
reasons,  supplemented  by  the  fact  that  Chicago  has  under- 
taken in  a  large  way  the  realization  of  a  plan  more 
comprehensive  than  has  been  suggested  for  any  other 
American  city,  the  author  has  felt,  sufficiently  justify  the 
prominence  given  Chicago  in  this  volume. 

I  wish  to  emphasize  that  the  credit  belongs  to  the 
authors  of  the  Plan ;  its  original  promoters  in  The  Com- 
mercial Club;  its  partial  realization  by  dint  of  the  unusual 
qualifications  of  the  chairman  of  the  Plan  Commission; 
the  altogether  useful  and  unique  organization  of  the  Plan 
Commission;  and  the  uniformly  cordial  and  effective 
support  of  the  newspapers,  without  which  there  would 
have  been  no  accomplishment;  as  well  as  the  receptive 
mind  and  cooperation  of  the  people,  together  with  the 
timely  action  of  the  city  authorities. 

But  for  these  and  my  experience  with  the  development 
of  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  it  would  be  impossible  for  me 
to  advance  anything  for  the  good  of  American  city 
planning.  My  contribution  to  the  result  attained  in 
Chicago  by  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission  has  been  only 


PREFACE 

in  the  capacity  of  a  vehicle  through  which  some  work 
has  cleared. 

This  book  was  designed  to  meet  the  avalanche  of  assist- 
ance-seeking inquiries  which  continually  flow  into  Chi- 
cago from  cities  great  and  small  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  hoped  that  it  may  point  the  way  to  those  engaged 
in  city  planning  endeavor,  and  also  inspire  the  people  to 
action,  by  showing  that  nothing  can  be  accomplished  in 
the  move  toward  city  betterment  without  public  under- 
standing and  appreciation  of  city  planning  needs,  prob- 
lems, and  advantages. 

The  author  has  endeavored  to  employ  a  readable  style 
and  appeal  to  the  general  public.  Uppermost  in  the 
preparation  of  this  volume  was  the  fact  that  the  ballot 
box  always  precedes  the  city  planner,  and  the  thought 
that  only  through  a  quickened  civic  conscience  lies  the 
hope  for  country-wide  city  planning  achievement. 

Man  is  a  gregarious  animal.  He  is  magnetized  by 
his  fellows.  Nothing  so  allures  and  attracts  him  as  does 
the  city. 

The  future  tragic  heritage  will  not  be  the  saddling  of 
the  generations  to  come  with  the  burden  of  paying  for 
war  but,  as  a  noted  economist  has  declared,  with  the 
burden  of  disease,  of  shattered  men,  and  other  vast 
economic  losses.  What  of  the  city  —  the  home  of  the 
majority  of  our  citizens  ? 

Modestly  is  the  hope  expressed  that  this  humble  effort 
may  accomplish  its  mission. 

I  desire  here  to  express  my  sincere  appreciation  of  the 
devotion  and  able  assistance  of  my  secretary,  Eugene  S. 
Taylor,  of  the  gracious  and  efficient  aid  of  Miss  Ella 

xi 


PREFACE 

M.  Todtmann,  and  of  the  cooperation  of  Charles  E. 
Nixon,  Miss  Caroline  M.  Mcllvaine,  W.  N.  C.  Carlton, 
Richard  Fairchild,  C.  W.  Andrews,  Samuel  B.  Allison, 
Herbert  E.  Hyde,  Georg-e  W.  Eggers,  Carl  B.  Roden 
and  Thomas  Ryan. 

W.  D.  M. 
Chicago,  January  31,  1919. 


xn 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     Starting  with  a  Right  Understanding       ...        i 
II     The  New  Profession  —  City  Planning     .      .      .      i8 

:   ^^\^^  What  Is  City  Planning? 28 

IV     American   Cities  —  Their  Growth,   Needs,  and 

Dangers 3^ 

How  to  Go  About  City  Planning 61 

Elements  to  be  Harnessed 74 

Publicity        . 83 

Misapplied  Energy 112 

Municipal  Authorities 120 

Some  Reasons  for  Haste 132 

Chicago  Men  and  Things  —  Cradle  of  the  Great- 
est  Plan 150 

1,  Inspiration   and    Influences  —  Music,   Art,   and 

Authors 216 

Other  Influences  —  Libraries,  Schools,  and  So- 
cial  Centers 27"/ 

^-^-.^E^yThe  Plan  of  Chicago 313 

XV     America's  Greatest  City  Planning  Board  —  Its 

^--:-^      Work r     .      '    '■      ■      -352 

— vaXVI    Summing  It  All  Up 412 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Chicago  Plan,  Grant  Park,  Bird's-eye  View    .    Frontispiece 

Charles  H.  Wacker 4 

New  York  City,  Bird's-eye  View 12 

Birmingham,  Alabama,  Business  Center 20 

Pittsburgh,  Bird's-eye  View 30 

Spokane,  Main  Street 36 

Philadelphia,  Broad  Street 40 

Denver,   Bird's-eye  View 44 

Seattle,  New  Business  Center .50 

Dayton,  Ohio,  The  Great  Flood,  19 13 52 

Sir  Christopher  Wren 5^ 

Panama  Canal  Slides 5^ 

Detroit,  Griswold  Street 64 

Los  Angeles,  Business  District 74 

Portland,  Oregon,  Bird's-eye  View 84 

Minneapolis,  Principal  Shopping  Street 92 

Chicago  School  Teachers  and  Principals 100 

Kansas  City's  Heart 108 

Dallas,  Center  of  Tall  Buildings 116 

San  Francisco,  Gateway  to  Orient 128 

Chicago,  Looking  Southeast  across  the  Loop     .      .      . .  140 

Chicago,  South  Water  Street,  1834 152 

Chicago  in  1845,  from  the  West 152 

United  States  Map  of  Railroads  Serving  Chicago    .      .  162 
Field  Museum  of  Natural  History,  Chicago  .      .      .      .168 

Lake  Shore  Drive,  Chicago 176 

Statue  of  Lincoln,  Chicago 184 

Drexel  Boulevard,  Chicago 196 

Ogden  Park  Playground,  Chicago 202 

Statue  of  the  Republic,  Chicago    .  _ 208 

Jackson  Park  Beach,  Walk,  and  Drive 214 

The  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church,  Chicago   ....  222 

Garfield  Park  Conservatory,  Chicago 232 

Garfield  Park,  Typical  Scene,  Chicago 232 

Monument  of  Kosciuszko,  Humboldt  Park,  Chicago     .  242 


XV 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Garfield  Park  Conservatory,  Interior,  Chicago  .      .      .  242- 

Forest  Preserves,  Typical  Scenes,  Chicago    ....  254 

Illinois  Centennial  Monument,  Logan  Square,  Chicago  .  269 

Newberry  Library,  Chicago 278 

John  Crerar  Library  (New),  Chicago 288 

University  of  Chicago  Group,  Chicago 298 

Northwestern  University  Group,  Evanston  ....  308 

Daniel  Hudson  Burnham 314 

Court  of  Honor,  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  Chi- 
cago         322 

Daniel  Hudson  Burnham  and  His  City  Planning  Col- 
leagues   324 

Paris  from  an  Aeroplane 328 

Baron  Georges  Eugene  Haussmann 334 

Plan  of  Chicago  Streets,  Parks,  and  Playgrounds    .      .  338 

Freight  Yards,  Typical  Scene,  Chicago 342 

Railroad  Map.  Central  District,  Chicago 342 

Charlottenburg,  Germany,  Diagonal  Streets  ....  348 

London.  Oxford  Circus 348 

Stockholm,  Diagonal  Streets 356 

Paris,  The  Place  de  la  Concorde .  356 

Plan  of  Chicago,  Business  Center 364 

Twelfth  Street  Improved,  Chicago 368 

Chicago  Plan  Improvement  Map 370 

Michigan  Avenue  before  the  Improvement,  Chicago      .  372 

Michigan  Avenue  Obstructed,  Chicago 374 

Rush  Street  Bridge,  Chicago 376 

Michigan  Avenue  Bridge  (New),  Chicago    ....  376 

Michigan  Avenue  Extension  (New),  Chicago    .      .      .  378 

Michigan  Avenue  Extension  (New),  Chicago    .      .      .  380 

New  Union  Station,  Chicago 384 

Old  Union  Depot,  Chicago 384 

New  Post-Office  Site,  Chicago 388 

Lake  Front  Park  Plan,  Chicago 390 

Waste  Disposal  Map,  Chicago 392 

Illinois  Central  and  Field  Museum  Group,  Chicago     .  394 

New  Illinois  Central  Passenger  Station.  Chicago    .      .  398 

South  Water  Street  Reclamation,  Chicago    ....  406 
South  Water  Street  Connection  with  Michigan  Avenue, 

Chicago 412 

Clarendon  Beach,  Chicago 420 

xvi 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 


What  of  the  City? 

CHAPTER  I 

.STARTING  WITH    A   RIGHT    UNDERSTANDING 

WHEN  I  was  on  the  witness  stand  in  tlje  famous 
Twelfth  Street  widening  case  in  Chicago,  an 
attorney  who  was  fighting  the  city,  somewhat  disturbed 
by  my  answers  to  his  questions,  finally  stopped  short, 
approached  the  witness  stand  and,  with  a  menacing  look 
and  threatening  gesture,  asked,  "Are  you  an  architect?" 

"No,  sir." 

"Are  you  an  engineer?" 

"No,  sir." 

"  Are  you  a  mechanic  ? " 

"  No,  sir." 

"Do  you  call  yourself  a  city  planner?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"How  is  that?" 

"My  identification  with  city  planning  is  promotional, 
not  technical.     My  profession  is  scientific  promotion." 

"  Aha,"  questioned  the  lawyer,  "  scientific  promotion, 
is  it?  Well,  perhaps  you  will  tell  the  court  in  what  fancy 
school  you  learned  this  fancy  profession?" 

I  replied,  to  the  merriment  of  the  audience  and  appar- 
ently the  amusement  of  the  court,  whom  I  was  momen- 

I 


.    WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 


tarily  in  fear  would  fine  me  for  contempt,  "  Largely  in 
the  school  of  experience." 

That  word  caps  the  whole  category  of  city  planning  — 
human  experience.  More  experience  and  less  theory  is 
what  is  most  needed  to  advance  city  plannlngTvery where 
in  America.  Theiawyer  moved  that  the  court  strike  out 
all  testimony  of  the  witness  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not 
qualified  to  testify  because  he  was  not  an  expert.  The 
motion  was  overruled  by  the  court,  who  admonished  the 
attorney  to  be  less  captious  and  querulous,  with  the  state- 
ment that  one  who  was  qualified  to  speak  as  an  expert 
was  one  who  had  given  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to  the 
specific  study  of  an  object  or  a  condition  to  have  estab- 
lished and  classified  knowledge  concerning  it. 

Again  that  definition  of  science  puts  to  rout  impracti- 
cal theory.  Science/is  knowledge  established  and  classi- 
fied. That  is  just  what  is  lacking  in  the  aggregate  of 
city  planning  experience  in  America. 

The  importance  of  promotional  and  educational  effort, 
I  regard  as  of  the  first  magnitude  in  all  city  planning 
endeavor.     It  is  basic  and  indispensable. 

In  1909,  three  weeks  prior  to  the  presidential  election, 
at  the  close  of  the  now  historic  annual  dinner  of  The 
Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  at  which  the  speakers 
were  the  leading  candidates  for  the  presidency  of  the 
United  States  —  Charles  H.  Taft  and  William  J.  Bryan 
—  Charles  D.  Norton,  afterward  secretary  to  President 
Taft  and  later  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States,  approached  me  with  a  query  which  later 
lead  to  an  offer  to  take  over  the  work  on  the  Plan  of 
Chicago,  then  the  exclusive  promotional  property  of  its 


STARTING  RIGHT 

sponsors,  The  Commercial  Club.  Mr.  Norton  had  in  mind 
my  identification  with  this  work  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
assisting  in  "putting  the  Plan  across."  I  was  then  the 
general  manager  of  The  Chicago  Association  of  Com- 
merce. 

This  was  two  years  prior  to  the  organization  of  the 
Chicago  Plan  Commission,  which  body  was  created  by  the 
City  Council  of  Chicago  as  the  guardian  and  promoter  of 
the  Plan.  Later,  when  a  second  offer  came  to  m.e,  this 
time  from  Charles  H.  Wacker,  the  newly  appointed  per- 
manent chairman  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission,  it 
was  accepted.  This  accounts  for  my  identification  with 
city  planning  work.  To  clarify  the  atmosphere  in  possible 
technical  quarters  where  there  might  be  a  desire  to  rule 
out  my  testimony,  as  in  the  case  of  the  disturbed  oppos- 
ing attorney,  I  make  cjear  the  Jact  Jliat  I  am  not  a  maker 
of  citjjplans  —  merely  a  promoter  thereof.  In  addition 
to  that,  I  may  take  strongly  to  preaching  and  possibly 
some  teaching  before  I  get  through.  I  strongly  suspect 
that  I  shall  enter  both  the  field  of  the  clergyman  and  the 
pedagogue ;  the  reasons  for  so  doing  will  manifest  them- 
selves as  we  proceed.  This  reminds  me  of  the  occasion 
when  I  was  delivering  an  address  on  scientific  promotion 
before  the  students  of  a  certain  university.  The  dean  of 
tlie  College  of  Commerce,  when  I  had  closed,  rose  and 
said,  "  Well,  fellows,  I  guess  we  have  now  had  enough 
preaching  and  we  will  conclude  the  program  with  a  few 
remarks  from  our  worthy  president."  But  it  was  a 
different  conclusion  than  the  one  the  dean  expected.  The 
president  was  scarcely  upon  his  feet  when  he  shot  out, 
"Dean" — and  I  shall  never  forget  the  menace  in  that 

3 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

word  "dean"  as  he  said  it  —  "let  me  remind  you  now 
and  for  all  time,  in  the  presence  of  these  students,  that  no 
teacher^is  a  great  teacher  unless  he  is  a  preacher,  and  that" 
no  preacher  is  a^reaFpreacher  unless  he  is  a  teacher." 

Much  teaching  is  necessary  in  advancing  city  planning. 
I  am  not  certain  but  that  there  is  necessarily  much 
preaching. 

There  is  no  mystery  about  city  planning.  This  book 
is  not  written  for  those  who  would  have  us  believe  that 
strange  and  peculiar  qualities  have  been  bestowed  by 
an  all-wise  Providence  upon  a  select  few  in  the  pro- 
fession, gifted  to  enlighten  the  world  by  befogging  the 
real  city  planning  issue. 

City  planning  is  a  simple,  common  sense  procedure  to 
make  conditions  more  livable  for  the  dwellers  in  chies. 
A  single  paragraph  can  describe  what  must  be  done  to 
produce  desired  results.  _ 
IThe  object  of  this  bookj  is,  first,  to  acquaint  the  people 
in  cities  with  their  necessary  and  important  part  in  the 
realization  of  a  city  plan  and,  second,  to  tell  the  pro- 
fessional city  planner  how  to  go  about  making  the  plan 
which  he  has  drawn  in  the  workroom  an  accomplished 
thing.  It  is  hoped  that  it  may  help  to  establish  a  national 
conception  of  city  planning,  and  to  firmly  fix  in  it  the 
factors  of  education  and  promotion.  These  must  go 
forward,  hand  in  hand,  and  first,  before  city  planning 
results  can  be  had.  In  America  the  ballot  box  must  go 
before  the  city  planner.  Recognition  of  this,  and  compre- 
hension of  what  it  embraces,  will  spell  success.  The 
reverse  will  show  only  disaster.  There  will  be  no  marked 
accomplishment  in  city  planning  in  the  United   States 

4 


Charles  H.  Wacker,  permanent  chairman  of  the  Chicago  Plan 
Commission. 


tt*V*^' 


*oO^^^>^''^ 


STARTING  RIGHT 

until  promotional  effort  of  the  right  sort  is  employed. 
The  reason  for  this  is  shown  in  the  many  things  that 
must  be  undone,  as  well  as  the  many  things  that  must 
be  done.  Aerial  navigation  in  the  vast  domain  of  theory 
and  mystery  has  no  place  in  the  promotional  branch  of 
city  planning.  All  that  is  needed  is  to  keep  our  feet 
close  enough  to  the  ground  to  have  something  solid  to 
set  them  down  on  when  we  grow  tired  of  theory  gone 
wrong  on  the  rocks  of  practical  facts. 

We  shall  come  to  what  city  planning  really  is  in  an- 
other chapter.  Meanwhile,  in  some  of  its  aspects,  it  may 
be  likened  to  the  age-old  pagan  query  — "  Whence  did  I 
come;  why  am  I  here;  where  am  I  going?"  Mortal  man 
has  troubled  himself  in  vain  through  all  the  ages  to  solve 
these  questions.  The  best  answer  is  in  the  example  of 
Him  who  in  His  short  earthly  career  was  too  busy  going 
about  doing  good  to  find  a  place  to  lay  His  head. 

Whence  did  city  planning  come? 

The  oldest  known  thing  gleaned  from  archaeological 
research  pictures  the  grouping  of  public  buildings  around 
a  civic  center.  Belshazzar  of  ancient  Babylon  was  de- 
voted to  the  material  progress  of  his  people,  and  under 
his  administration  the  people  were  cleanly,  as  by  law 
they  were  forced  to  bathe  three  times  a  day  and  their 
health  did  not  suffer  in  consequence.  Astronomy,  arith- 
metic, and  the  alphabet  all  had  their  beginnings  in  Baby- 
lon. There  the  hour  was  first  divided  into  sixty  minutes. 
Babylon  had  a  regular  postal  delivery,  a  sewage  system, 
banking  houses,  and  strict  laws  protecting  the  common 
citizen  from  oppression  by  the  rich  and  powerful.  There 
is  strong  proof,  according  to  historic  authorities,  that 

5 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY^ 

the  wise  men  of  Babylon  had  some  knowledge  of  electric- 
ity, and,  arguing  from  this  theory,  it  is  advanced  that 
the  famed  "  handwriting  on  the  wall "  was  projected  upon 
a  plaster  surface  by  some  mechanism  kindred  to  the 
modern  magic  lantern.  In  our  time  stereopticon  pictures 
are  effective  in  showing  the  people  the  handwriting  on 
the  wall  of  modern-day  unpreparedness,  those  things 
which  augur  for  good  citizenship,  wise  ruling,  and  livable 
conditions  Jixxities. 

/  National  saiety"  means  much  more  than  military 
efficiency.  It  means  putting  the  nation  and  its  resources 
into  the  best  possible  condition.  It  means  safeguarding 
the  public  health _  of  the  people  in  cities.  It  means 
obedience  to  the  primary  instincts  of  self-preservation, 
which  is  quite  as  inherent  in  nations  as  in  men.  It  dic- 
tates the  wisdom  of  making  ourselves  ready  and  able  to 
meet  whatever  exigencies  may  arise.  It  means  putting 
the  nation  into  the  best  possible  condition  as  to  material, 
men,  and  measures  for  the  well-being  of  all  the  people. 

The  wisdom  of  this  the  chairman  of  the  Chicago  Plan 
Commission  attempted  to  show  the  Secretary  of  War 
in  19 1 6,  when  requesting  a  permit  to  build  bathing 
beaches  along  the  "filled  in"  Lake  Front,  so  the  masses 
could  enjoy  what  the  Babylonians  were  ordered  by  law 
to. take  three  times  daily.     This  is  what  he  said: 

A  Washington  dispatch  appearing  in  the  Chicago 
papers  stated  that  five  hundred  men  had  been  added  to 
the  ranks  of  the  army  during  two  weeks'  recruiting,  and 
that  this  number  was  accepted  from  among  more  than 
two  thousand  applicants  for  enlistment.  The  number  of 
rejections  is  alarming.     What  is  the  cause  ascribed  for 

6 


STARTING  RIGHT 

the  ineligibility  of  seventy-five  per  cent  of  all  those  offer- 
ing their  services?  Fifty-three  per  cent  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  now  reside  in  cities.  Does  this  not 
augur  for  more  ample  means  for  the  healthful  recreation 
of  the  people  in  cities?  If  physical  deterioration  is  the 
principal  cause  for  this  wholesale  rejecting  of  recruits, 
then  indeed  is  our  country  face  to  face  with  another  crisis 
which  also  demands  preparedness  but  of  another  sort: 
preparedness  for  the  conservation  of  the  public  health  of 
our  citizens  —  the  nation's  greatest  asset.  While  we  as 
a  nation  are  making  our  plans  for  naval  and  military 
preparedness,  should  we  not  also  make  plans  for  pre- 
paredness in  other  directions  which  fundamentally  affect 
our  nation?  Preparedness  for  the  safety  of  the  health  of 
our  people  is  graphically  —  almost  dramatically  —  illus- 
trated in  the  desire  of  Chicago  to  turn  its  great  Lake 
Frontjnto  playgrounds  for  all  the  people,  a  permit  for 
which  is  necessary  from  the  United  States  government. 

It  would  be  interesting  and  valuable  to  review  the  ex- 
perience of  the  War  Department  since  this  early  and 
small  beginning  in  raising  an  army.  Such  investigation 
would  revej,l  a  very  alarming  depleted  physical  condition 
among  the  hundreds  of  thousands  called  and  examined  for 
military  service.  As  one  writer  puts  it,  "  A  distinguished 
peace  promoter  boasted  in  our  ante-war  days  that  if 
America  was  threatened,  a  million  men  would  spring  to 
arms  overnight  to  defend  her."  Based  on  the  courage 
and  patriotism  of  the  nation,  he  was  doubtless  right  but, 
as  this  writer  pointed  out,  ''b_etVk^en_  willingness.  tQ_fight 
and  fitness  to  fight  is  set  a  gulf  broad  and  deep."  Samuel 
Hopkins  Adams,  in  Collier's,  told  the  story  of  making 
our_army  "fighting  fit"  and  in  reply  to  this  prophetic 
enthusiast,  said : 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Ten  thousand  army  medical  experts  can  now  attest 
that  if  the  prophet's  million  unsifted  fiat  defenders  were 
put  to  the  test  of  ordinary  routine  —  let  alone  full  mili- 
tary service  —  without  long  and  painful  preparation,  the 
first  fortnight  would  find  half  of  them  in  hospitals,  half 
of  the  remainder  disqualified  for  duty  by  minor  ailments, 
and  most  of  the  residue  discharged  or  dead.  Five  per 
cent,  perhaps,  might  measure  up  untrained  to  the  purely 
physical  demands  of  soldier  life. 

Naturally  the  American  army  could  be  depended  upon 
to  take  care  of  itself,  but  at  what  expense  of  effort  and 
time  was  it  necessary  to  make  it  fighting  fit.  This 
was  accomplished,  seemingly,  with  incredible  speed  and 
almost  miraculous  results,  but  how  infinitely  better  it 
would  have  been  could  proper  measures  have  been  em- 
ployed in  the  cities  for  the  physical  well-being  of  the 
people  prior  to  this  emergent  need.  Thewar  has  taught 
us  many  valuable  lessons. —  none  of  greater  worth  than 
the  lesson  in  preparedness  in  building  a  stalwart  national 
physical  manhood  by  making  living  conditions  in  the 
cities  the  best  possible.  Brilliant  exploits  have  been 
achieved  and  more  brilliant  things  may  follow  if  a 
proper  survey  of  conditions  in  cities  may  be  had  and  a 
remedy  provided,  insuring  a  permanent,  virile,  and  ca- 
pable people.  When  the  history  of  the  war  is  written 
there  will  outstand  against  all  other  achievements  the 
remarkable  contribution  of  the  United  States  in  organiz- 
ing an  army  of  four  million,  the  building  of  thirty- 
five  enormous  cantonments,  the  equipment  of  the  army 
and  the  transportation  of  2,225,000  soldiers  three 
thousand  miles  across  the  Atlantic  which  ended  the  war, 


STARTING  RIGHT 

all  in  the  incredibly  short  time  of  eighteen  months. 
Nothing  in  the  history  of  the  world  is  comparable  to  this 
thing  and  that  was  done  in  a  pacific  country  where  the 
very  idea  of  foreign  invasion  was  considered  as  almost 
entirely  out  of  the  question. 

Something  of  the  genius,  the  dispatch,  and  the  com- 
pleteness of  this  great  achievement,  if  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  great  civic  issue  —  city  planning  —  would  effect 
similar  noteworthy  results  and  our  nation  would  indeed 
be  invincible. 

Why  city  planning  is  the  greatest  issue  of  the 
United  States  today  is  patent  on  the  face  af  things.  The 
tendency  of  mankind  is  to  gather  together  in  close  con- 
tact, a  trait  which  has  always  existed  but  is  operating 
today  more  strongly  than  ever  before  in  history.  All 
over  the  world  there  is  an  astonishing  and  unparalleled 
movement  of  people  toward  cities.  Naturally  this  move- 
ment is  bringing  up  new  problems  in  municipal  govern- 
ment and  new  tasks  in  social  science,  or  the  science  of 
maintaining  good  health  and  good  order  among  people 
of  different  races  when  brought  intimately  together.  The 
civic  problems  confronting  the  people  a  generation  ago 
were  very  simple  as  we  regard  them  looking  back 
from  today  —  namely,  to  supply  gas  (later  electric 
light),  water,  adequate  schools,  and  scientifically  equipped 
institutions  for  the  sick  and  the  improvident.  These  were 
their  major  concerns.  We  consider  need  for  God's  sun- 
shine, air,  sanitation,  relief  from  congestion,  facilitation 
of  traffic,  housing  of  the  poor,  organized  charities  and 
more  ample  means  for  healthful  recreation  —  in  a  word, 
public  improvements  and  more  attractive  surroundings 

9 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

for  the  multitudes  swarming  to  the  cities.  Belshazzar 
did  not  have  these  conditions  in  his  time,  but  problems 
he  did  have,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  met  and 
mastered  them  puts  modern  municipal  rule  to  blush. 

American  cities  have  arisen  to  the  rule  of  lack  of  fore- 
sight and  haphazard  develophient.  '  BabylofTand  Atheiis 
are  examples  of  what  was  accomplished  to  serve  the 
interests  of  the  people  in  their  far-off  day.  What  we 
must  do  in  America  in  this,  the  twentieth  century,  is  to 
discover  jhejiatui:e4iljQUJi.ij£eds^^jri^^  be 

■g.ati.sfi_ed^^^___  ^         ^— ^....^ 

"V^^hat  are  we  doing?  Where  is  city  planning  going ?j 
These  questions  confront  us.  Many  are  answering  them 
like  the  country  editor  in  the  generous  old  day  of  free 
railroad  passes.  He  applied  to  the  headquarters  of  a 
certain  railroad  for  a  pass  to  a  distant  city.  Instead  of 
receiving  it,  he  got  this  message :  "  What  is  your  paper 
and  where  does  it  go?"  Promptly  the  editor  replied: 
"It  is  devoted  to  the  interests  of  my  community;  it  goes 
everywhere;  it  will  go  to  blazes  if  you  do  not  send  me 
that  pass." 

Before  the  Great  War  city  planning  was  going  to  blazes 
in  a  hundred  directions  in  America  because  the  experience 
and  need  of  our  day  were  ignored,  and  in  their  stead 
were  advanced  ill-considered  procedure  and  frequently 
more  ill-considered  plans.  The  war  put  a  temporary 
embargo  on  nearly  everything  of  civic  importance.  Now 
that  it  is  over  it  will  be  followed  by  the  reconstruction 
period. 

The  war  ended,  new  and  stupendous  problems  confront 
the  nations  of  the  world.     The  reconstruction  period  is 

lO 


STARTING  RIGHT 

upon  us  with  its  vast,  varied,  intricate,  and  tremendously 
burdensome  problems  requiring  solution.  When  the  tre- 
mendous program  of  reconstruction  is  finally  approved 
and  launched,  an  exacting  and  long-drawn-out  period  of 
procedure  must,  of  necessity,  be  undertaken  the  world 
over.  Fundamental  is  the  important  question  of  the  wel- 
fare of  the  people  in  the  cities.  Especially  does  this  apply 
to  America,  where  public  improvement  projects  of  local 
character  were  almost  entirely  abandoned  or  subordinated 
to  the  national  needs. 

Cities  of  the  United  States  discovered  soon  after  the 
nation's  entry  into  the  war  that  they  no  longer  possessed 
the  power  to  decide  questions  and  launch  action  on  their 
local  improvement  projects  upon  their  own  initiative. 
This,  if  done  at  all,  they  soon  realized  could  be  accom- 
plished only  by  the  decree  of  the  national  authorities. 
Seemingly  this  procedure  was  desirable  in  the  United 
States  —  the  richest  and  most  resourceful  country  in  the 
world  —  although  there  were  many  evidences  of  pro- 
gressive action  upon  municipal  improvements  in  the  coun- 
tries of  England,  France,  and  German3^  where  the  war 
burden  and  sacrifices  of  the  people  were  infinitely  greater 
and  much  longer  sustained. 

Whatever  new  and  continued  burdens  may  be  placed 
upon  the  people  of  the  United  States  growing  out  of  the 
readjustment  following  the  war,  the  betterment  of  the 
conditions  of  the  people  in  the  cities  must  early  be  given 
masterful  and  aggressive  impetus.  The  vast  program  of 
public  work  either  in  the  making  or  partially  under  con- 
struction before  the  war  must  be  reassembled  and  prose- 
cuted under  the  new  urge  that  has  grown  out  of  the  Vv'ar. 

II 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Conditions  in  the  cities  due  to  rapid  growth  and  ill- 
considered  development  that  had  forced  their  attention 
upon  the  people  in  American  cities  not  only  could  not, 
during  the  war,  be  improved,  but  on  the  contrary  have 
become  aggravated.  No  time  should  be  lost  in  picking  up 
and  binding  together  the  broken  threads  of  municipal 
advance  in  matters  affecting  the  general  good. 

The  world  momentous  fact  has  been  clearly  realized 
that  a  coalition  of  all  the  nations  must  be  established 
looking  to  such  readjustment  and  material  modification 
of  military  and  naval  strength  as  will  forever  assure 
the  peace  of  the  world  and  its  freedom  from  further 
warring  strife,  if  civilization  is  to  be  kept  from  slipping 
back  into  such  darkness  as  for  six  hundred  years  encom- 
passed the  world  following  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
Not  only  has  the  imperative  need  of  such  action  been 
developed  but  scientists  have  gone  much  further  than 
that  in  indicating  the  desirable,  if  not  probable,  need  of 
a  combination  of  the  nations  to  conserve  the  man  power, 
money  power,  and  material  resources  of  the  world  so 
that  human  progress  m.ay  again  assert  itself  and  be  sus- 
tained until  the  light  of  freedom  from  the  toils  of  devas- 
tation is  again  unquenchably  all  aglow. 

In  all  of  its  appalling  vastness  nothing  is  so  urgent  for 
the  reestablishment  of  the  prosperity  of  the  people  in  the 
United  States  as  a  quick  and  vigorous  resumption  of 
activities  on  municipal  improvement  projects  in  accord- 
ance with  well-ordered  local  plans.  Of  essential  impor- 
tance looms  the  need  of  restoring  and  conserving  the  de- 
pleted physical  strength  of  our  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  returning  troops  who  were  heavily  drawn  from  every 

12 


irti 


STARTING  RIGHT 

section  of  the  country,  their  reemployment  where  possible 
in  the  ranks  of  labor,  the  use  of  steel  and  other  materials 
sorely  needed  in  many  directions  and  provision  for  the 
humanitarian  relief  of  the  stricken  families  of  our  sol- 
diers who,  more  than  ever,  will  require  better  facilities 
for  healthful  recreation  and  other  means  for  their  normal 
rehabilitation  —  all  of  which  is  a  matter  of  local  obliga- 
tion and  performance. 

Sternly  facing  the  facts  due  to  the  Great  War,  it  per- 
force must  be  admitted  that  if  the  condition  of  the  people 
in  the  cities  which  required  urgent  attention  before  the 
war  was  admittedly  bad,  it  is  obvious  that  these  condi- 
tions will  multiply  many  fold  after  the  war.  Now  more 
irrevocably  than  ever  it  must  be  realized  that  the  pros- 
perity of  the  people  in  the  cities  —  and  in^  consequence 
the  prosperity  of  the  nation,  for  the  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple live  in  the  cities  —  depends  upon  well-ordered  munici- 
pal development.  This  can  best  be  brought  about  through 
such  remedial  measures  as  ample  means  for  healthful 
happiness  in  the  open  both  within  and  without  the  city 
limits,  relief  from  congestion,  facilitation  of  traffic, 
proper  housing  and  scientific  districting,  with  its  many 
practical  provisions.  In  the  wake  of  this  constructive 
program  for  the  good  of  the  people  in  the  cities  there 
must  also  follow  improved  facilities  for  industrial  or 
vocational  education,  and  more  reachable  general  educa- 
tional opportunities  and  their  stimulating  and  wholesome 
influences. 

Naturally  the  Great  War  retarded  city  planning  every- 
where in  America.  When  the  United  States  entered  the 
war,  the  city  of  Chicago,  after  eight  years  of  work  upon 

13 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

the  Plan  of  Chicago  under  the  direction  of  the  Chicago 
Plan  Commission,  was  engaged  in  the  development  of 
public  improvements  which,  when  constructed,  together 
with  land  purchases,  would  amount  in  the  aggregate  to 
more  than  $150,000,000.  Other  pending  recommenda- 
tions by  the  Plan  Commission  involved  a  further  outlay 
of  ten  to  fifteen  million  dollars.  The  value  of  these 
projects  completed  would  add  scores  of  millions  addi- 
tional. The  improvements  under  way  —  under  actual 
construction  or  far  advanced  in  procedure  —  were  the 
widening  of  Twelfth  Street,  railroad  viaduct,  and  new 
bridge,  a  part  of  the  central  street  quadrangle ;  the  widen- 
ing and  extension  of  Michigan  Avenue  across  the  Chi- 
cago River,  including  a  two-level  structure  and  double- 
deck  bridge,  also  a  part  of  the  central  quadrangle;  the 
west  side  Union  Passenger  Station  and  freight  terminal 
projects,  including  the  widening  and  grading  of  Canal 
Street,  a  two-level  street  and  double-deck  bridge  over 
the  north  branch  of  the  river ;  the  building  of  several  new 
bridge  approaches  and  bridges,  approach  tracks,  approach 
yards  and  general  terminal  layout;  the  Illinois  Central 
terminal  plans ;  the  building  of  1,280  acres  of  Lake  Front 
parks  and  waterways  in  connection  therewith ;  the  exten- 
sion of  Ogden  Avenue  for  two  miles,  connecting  that 
diagonal  thoroughfare  with  Union  and  Lincoln  parks; 
the  acquisition  of  thousands  of  acres  of  forest  preserves ; 
the  purchase  of  a  two-block  west  side  post-office  site  on 
Canal  Street;  and  a  good  roads  system  connecting  the 
forest  preserves  and  adjacent  suburban  highway  sys- 
tems. 

Other  recommended  projects  were  —  the  widening  of 

14 


STARTING  RIGHT 

Western  Avenue,  the  principal  west  side  through  thor- 
oughfare; and  the  reclamation,  double-decking  and 
widening  of  South  Water  Street  —  now  occupied  by  a 
produce  market  —  to  form  a  part  of  the  central  quad- 
rangle. Work  was  actually  begun  on  four  of  these  proj- 
ects and  procedure  far  advanced  on  all  the  others  ex- 
cepting the  latter  two.  The  war  almost  entirely  stopped 
everyone  of  these  improvements.  The  signing  of  the 
armistice  brought  about  an  immediate  and  vigorous  re- 
sumption of  activity  on  all  these  projects,  which  had 
been  unavoidably  delayed  by  the  great  world  conflict. 

Almost  immediately  following  the  signing  of  the  armis- 
tice the  Chicago  Plan  Commission  issued  its  now  famous 
"  Reconstruction  Platform,"  calling  upon  authorities  and 
citizens  alike  to  get  behind  the  twenty-three  improvements 
projected  in  the  platform.  Its  appeal  was  primarily  based 
on  the  need  for  providing  work  for  returning  troops,  to 
safeguard  labor  in  a  possible  period  of  depression,  and 
as  an  economic  necessity  in  the  construction  of  a  series 
of  city  improvements  which,  if  speedily  realized,  would 
save  the  city  untold  millions  of  dollars  in  the  future  in 
repairing  the  mistakes  of  shortsightedness. 

Other  than  the  war,  an  additional  cause  of  delay  has 
been  public  misunderstanding  of  the  purpose  of  city  plan- 
ning. In  the  beginning  it  was  a  mistake  to  signalize  a 
city  plan  as  "The  City  Beautiful."  It  is  thus  designated 
in  America  wherever  city  planning  crops  out.  A  city 
plan  worthy  of  the  name  should  be  called  "The  City 
Practical."  The  term  "beautiful"  inspires  objection  at 
the  outset  by  creating  misapprehension.  It  is  a  strong 
stock  phrase  to  be  ridiculed  and  sc»ffed  at  by  the  pro- 

15 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

fessional  agitator.  "  Beauty  doctors  "  this  class  like  to 
call  city  planners.  "  The  City  Beautiful "  is  a  misnomer 
because  real  city  planning  is  more  practical  than  beau- 
tiful. It  aims  at  betterments  and  attractive  conditions, 
not  beauty  which,  however,  follows  as  a  natural 
result.  It  is  a  great  step  forward  to  anticipate  the 
objection  of  the  incredulous  by  avoiding  the  possibility  of 
confusion  in  the  minds  of  the  people  and  by  starting  with 
the  right  name  for  the  Plan.  It  has  required,  where 
serious  work  has  been  done,  much  patient  effort  to  get 
the  people  to  span  the  chasm  between  the  practical  ideals 
of  a  comprehensive  city  plan  and  the  wretched  order  of 
physical  development  so  unfortunately  prevalent  in  Amer- 
ican cities.  Hence  city  planning  effort  has  been  called 
an  idle  dream.  Fortunately  enough  already  has  been 
accomplislied  of  a  practical,  worthwhile  nature  to  forever 
take  city  planning  out  of  the  atmosphere  of  a  talk  plan 
or  a  picture  plan. 

Vastly  more  will  be  accomplished  when  the  cities  in 
the  United  States  which  have  started  begin  to  realize  the 
practical  truths  and  necessities  which  underlie  the  whole 
progress  of  successful  city  planning  endeavor. 

For  twenty-five  years  I  have  been  advancing  things  by 
the  power  of  persuasion.  For  eleven  years  I  have  been 
professionally  employed  in  public  work  —  work  where 
public  spirit,  vision,  men,  moral  suasion,  persuasion  —  in 
a  word,  organized  effort,  projected  by  educated  enthu- 
siasm—  were  dominant  requisites. 

For  eight  years  I  have  been  aiding  in  directing  the 
furtherance  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  The  views  I  shall 
advance  in  this  volume  are  the  results  of  my  experience. 

i6 


STARTING  RIGHT 

My  business  is  to  say  what  I  believe,  based  on  my  own 
experience  and  observation  of  the  experience  of  others. 
Whether  this  pleases  or  irritates  is  not  my  business. 

With  Romain  Rolland  —  I  know  that,  "Words  once 
uttered  make  their  way  of  themselves." 

In  the  undeveloped  soil  of  American  city  planning,  I 
sow  them,  hopefully  expectant  of  the  harvest. 


17 


s 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  NEW  PROFESSION CITY  PLANNING 

INCE  city  planning  has  become  so  heralded  in  Amer- 
ica, something  like  two  hundred  cities  have  entered 
the  arena,  garbed  in  some  sort  of  planning  toga.  Most  of 
these  have  but  fragmentary  plans.  Some  have  only  park 
plans;  others  civic  center  plans;  others  transportation 
plans.  Some  few  have  single  street  improvement  plans. 
All  is  called  city  planning  and  that  is  exactly  what  it 
jL   (''!         is  not. 

;      ^*jy  A  streetjwideniiig  unrelated  to  any  other  improvement 

t\  «  or  purpose  is  not  city  planning.    The  mere  development 

Q  of  a"civTc  center  without  a  comprehensive  stltdy  ©4~the 

•  t^rrfifiTcity  is  not  city  planning.    These  may,  in  the  rapid 

development  of  cities,  be  city  "  unplanning." 

The  reason  for  such  little 'progress  in  city  planning  as 
was  actually  made  in  pre-war  times  was  more  often  due 
to  the  wrong  way  of  going  about  it  than  to  bad  planning. 
Too  many  planning  boards  have  been  made  up  largely 
of  technical  men  who  had  no  knowledge  of  promotional 
methods  and  no  resourcefulness  in  educational  work. 
There  has  not  been  realized  that  no  matter  how  effect- 
ively developed  on  paper,  city  planning  can  only  be  ac- 
complished by  especial  promotional  effort,  nor  was  there 
even  guessed  the  many  ahd~pecuTiar  ramifications  of  such 
endeavor.    This  fact  is  clear  in  the  many  failures  that 

i8 


THE  NEW  PROFESSION 

have  resulted.  City  planning  advocates  must  come  to 
realize  this  truth  and  follow  its  tenets. 

Ignorance  of  the  value  and  the  part  promotional  work 
has  had  in  successful  city  planning  is  nowhere  better 
illustrated  than  in  the  survey  of  a  certain  Englishman 
who  made  an  investigation  of  the  subject  in  the  United 
States  in  191 3.  He  published  the  results  of  his  research 
in  a  leading  technical  magazine  of  London.  His  article 
dealt  only  with  theoretical  deductions  of  experts,  tech- 
nical drawings,  and  studies,  and  very  little  with  actual 
accomplishment.  His  mention  of  Chicago  was  inter- 
esting for  what  it  included  as  well  as  for  what  it  did  not 
include.  He  gave  liberal  mention  to  a  host  of  technical 
experts  and  "other  experts  who  have  concentrated  their 
attention  to  details  or  special  aspects." 

City  planning  promotion  had  no  place  in  his  arti- 
cle. Nearly  all  of  it  was  devoted  to  the  accomplish- 
ments made  in  Chicago,  so  little '  couTd^  Tie  find  in 
otheT~citres,"  Hiif "not"" a  word^  did  he  mention  of-  edu- 
cation, procedure,  or  the  promotional  efforts  that 
made  the  Chicago  work  possible.  The  fact  that  most 
of  the  experts  referred  to  had  had  no  actual  experience 
in  things  done  seemed  not  to  concern  this  writer.  Ap- 
parently he  was  more  interested  in  theory  than  accom- 
plishment. Either  he  overlooked  or  thought  it  unneces- 
sary to  mention  what  Chicago  has  effected,  not  a  par- 
donable blunder  because  of  the  very  large  part  the  pro- 
motional work  has  had  in  Chicago's  achievement  on  its 
Plan.  z^^y 

"City  planning"  has  become  a  fad.  Some  cities  have 
no  plans  —  only  a  desire  to  catch  the  fad  and  become 

19 


'"TM^-vr'^ 


fUu/^-f  p^yfi  ^A\^^    ^^^^  v\^i<tt^  pUvx^. 


t  crr^-^rov-  f-u^^-r  f^-^rrj     -^-o^r^  ^>-v^^, 

WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

engaged  in  planning  something ;  anything  so  long  as  they 
can  get  in  the  picture.  Others  have  passed  the  first  inocu- 
lation of  the  bug  and  have  appointed  their  commission, 
given  it  a  few  hundred  dollars  and  set  it  adrift.  It  hasn't 
money  enough  to  sail  far  nor  does  it  know  what  port  it 
is  bound  for.  It  only  knows  that  it  is  a  "  city  planner  " 
because  it  feels  the  motion  of  the  waves. 

Then  there  are  a  large  number  of  cities,  yet  unkissed 
by  the  bug,  which  are  frantically  endeavoring  to  attract 
him.  This  urban  impulse  of  the  day  is  breeding  a  horde 
of  city  planning  fledgelings.  These  are  naturally  re- 
cruited from  the  ranks  of  architects  and  engineers.  There 
are  some  good  men  in  the  field,  but  not  many.  The  tech- 
nical man  thoroughly  competent  to  be  trusted  with  a 
commission  to  advise  the  city  and  prepare  plans  for  it  is 
rare.    I  know  but  few  such  men  in  the  United  States. 

The  architect  or  engineer  whose  only  knowledge  of 
city  planning  is  contained  in  what  he  thinks  he  knows  is 
a  dangerous  factor.  Nothing  is  more  slanted,  jagged, 
and  bitter  than  the  bias  of  technical  men.  Edward  How- 
ard Griggs  says  that  great  men  have  never  made  the 
mistake  that  art  exists  for  the  sake  of  exhibiting  tech- 
nical skill  in  the  mastery  of  difficulties.  They  invariably 
have  recognized  that  technical  skill  is  never  an  end  at  all, 
but  always  a  means  —  a  glorious  one — to  something  be- 
yond itself;  but  among  lesser  artists  the  superstition  is 
widely  prevalent. 

City  planning  is  .as  much  .a_jiiat-t€JL.jil_Qhs£n:ation, 
opinion,  and  viewpoint  as  of  technical  knowledge  orskill. 
If  you  want  to  have  a  lively  circus  of  city  planning  dis- 
sension, get  two  or  three  aspiring  technical  "planners" 

20 


^»&/c 


/Z^isL 


\J\<l\/f^ 


THE  NEW  PROFESSION 

pitted  against  each  other.  Touchy,  narrow,  and  imma- 
tnre  is  the  technical  mind  which  cannot  rise  above  these 
drawbacks  of  the  profession.  The  more  set,  narrow,  and 
unskilled  a  technical-man  is,  often  the  more  aggressive 
he  is. 

Modern  city  planning  is  a  new  profession.  The  idea 
and  the  authority  can  be  given  in  a  single  sentence.  It  is 
the  natural  and  logical  deduction  of  present-day  expe- 
rience in  American  cities  in  putting  the  theory  of  city 
planning  to  the  practical  test  of  actual  accomplishment. 

The  "  new  "  profession  —  city  planning — should  be  re- 
viewed in  the  light  of  present-day  conditions  in  America, 
where  the  ballot  box  precedes  the  city  planner. 

More  sacrilegious  still,  perhaps,  is  the  avowal  ot  ex- 
perience that  architecture,  while  basic,  does  not  neces- 
sarily imply  that  a  modern-day  city  planner  must  be  an 
architect^  Some  noted  city  planners  of  the  past  were 
engineers.  It  does  demand,  however,  that  where  an 
architect  is  the  city  planner,  he  must  be  possessed  of  un- 
usual perceptive  and  perspective  ability  as  specifically  ap- 
plied to  the  physical  development  of  cities.  There  is  a 
vast  difference  between  real  city  planning  and  the  archi- 
tect's profession  as  the  latter  is  commonly  regarded. 

First  we  may  properly  ask  —  ^hat  is  city  plannrng^* 

Technically,  it  is  the  art  or  science  of  planning  the^ 
development  of  cities  in  a  systematic  and  orderly  way. 
Thus  far  it  is  seemingly  simple.  The  first  milestone  has 
been  reached,  apparently  without  difficulty.  But  there  are 
many  more  milestones,  and  the  way  to  them  is  strewn 
with  obstructions  and  has  many  grades  and  turns. 

Interpretatively,  city  planning  in  the  United  States  is 

21 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

essentially  a  process  of  vision  and  survey,  push  and  pull, 
barter  and  sell,  education  and  exhortation,  diplomacy  and 
expediency,  courts  and  juries. 

Positively,  city  planning  here  is  divided  into  two  dis- 
tinct and  widely  separate  scientific  branches.  The  first, 
or  technical  branch,  embraces  architecture  and  engineer- 
ing. The  second,  which  is  promotive,  is  likewise  scien- 
tifically professional  and  could  be  truthfully  termed  the 
dynamic  power  behind  the  throne  of  accomplishment. 

Obviously,  those  engaged  in  the  first  branch  of  city 
planning  must  perceive  that  which  composes  the  second 
branch  —  the  business  of  putting  the  technical  studies 
to  the  test  of  realization  —  the  promotive  side  of  city 
planning.  Refusal  or  failure  to  comprehend  this  all- 
important  fundamental  will  beget  but  one  sure  result,  the 
artist's  "  dreams  "  will  turn  to  "  nightmares." 

Credit  for  accomplishment?  Too  often  in  public  work 
is  credit,  instead  of  results,  the  goal.  There  can  be  no 
honest  credit  without  results.  If  results  are  had,  history 
will  be  fair.  The  city  planner  —  a  composite  fellow  now 
—  would  better  be  occupied  with  knowing  to  a  reasonable 
certainty  that  the  street  planned  in  the  studiQL..caiLJbe 
*-w*;  accomplished  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  '^ 

,1      _^  The  powers  that  were  Pericles'  and  Caesar's,  the  im- 

perialistic anointing  which  w^as  the  portion  of  Wren  and 
^<6  '^^ff'-vf^Haussmann  —  are  things  of  the  past.  Dealing  with  the 
'b/i/itj  J-U  American  public  and  municipalities,  a  plan  on  paper  is 
'V',,;,    ,  ,/  one  thing;  its  realization  distinctly  another. 

With  so  many  cities  in  the  United  States  attempting 

city  planning  in  some  phase  —  most  of  them  groping  in 

"*  ^c  the  dark  —  it  may  safely  be  predicted  that  the  next  ten 

22 


THE  NEW  PROFESSION 

years  will  witness  the  professional  recognition  of  the 
"  new  "  profession,  city  planning.  This  profession  will 
Embrace,  blended  as  component  parts,  architecture,  en- 
gineering, tTielaw,  and  its  energizer,  scientific  promoQOTT* 
■'  Eight  years  of  snccessfuriTegotiation  of  the  Plan  of 
Chicago  by  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission  is  the  reason 
for  giving  to  city  planning  this  new  definition  or  interpre- 
tation. 

Surveying  the  entire  field  of  city  planning,  it  is  appar- 
ent that  many  architects  see  before  them  only  the  drawing 
table,  materials,  and  an  expanse  of  clean  white  paper. 
That,  naturally,  is  as  far  as  the  technical  branch  is  ex- 
pected to  penetrate  the  profession.     But 

If  they  would  also  realize  something  of  the. .practical 
problems  to  be  solved,  to  enable  the  promotive  side  to 
convince  a  critical,  apathetic,  and  skeptical  public ; 

If  they  would  see  the  difficulties  of  official  action  by 
the  city  authorities; 

If  they  would  see  sectional  prejudice  and  personal  self- 
ishness looming  up  to  throttle  their  paper  plans; 

If  they  would  see  the  opposition  of  the  property  own- 
ers whose  property  will  be  taxed  or  taken ; 

If  they  would  see  the  delays  and  drawbacks  of  possible 
jealousies  and  bickerings  of  conflicting  powers,  and  prog- 
ress hindered  by  frequent  changes  in  administrations; 

If  they  would  see  the  difficulties  of  successfully  finan- 
ciug  their  projects ; 

If  they  would  see  the  hundred-and-one  things  to  be 
accomplished  from  the  education  of  the  public  down  to 
the  trial  of  the  case  by  law; 

If  they  would  see  the  legal  pitfalls  after  the  steep  and 

23 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

dreary  climb  in  procedure  has  been  made  and  the  summit 
reached  in  court; 

If  these  things  could  appear  apparition-like,  shadowing 
the  clean  expanse  of  paper  on  the  draftsman's  table 

Then,  perchance,  there  would  be  avoided  the  drawing 
of  a  street  plan,  such  as  was  made  for  a  certain  American 
city  where  existing  conditions  demanded  an  adequate 
street  connection  between  the  congested  center  and  an  ex- 
panding outer  development.  Instead  of  proposing  to 
widen  an  existing  connecting  thoroughfare  which  was 
only  slightly  out  of  the  direct  line,  there  was  proposed 
on  paper  an  entirely  new  artery  to  be  cut  through  ex- 
tremely expensive  property  almost  immediately  parallel 
to  the  existing  street.  As  a  paper  plan  it  was  ideal,  the 
personification  of  aesthetic  elegance  —  a  beautiful,  archi- 
tectural symphony.  It  was  rejected,  however,  because  it 
was  not  practical. 

The  old  street  in  that  city  could  be  likened  to  a  good 
nose  on  a  good  face.  It  was  perhaps  a  Roman  nose,  and 
the  architect  thought  to  make  it  more  classic  by  changing 
it  to  a  Grecian  nose — when  all  that  was  necessary  was 
a  slight  operation  for  adenoids. 

That  illustrates  in  a  nutshell  the  "other  side  of  city 
planning" — the  practical  problems  encountered  by  the 
promoter  —  the  Plan  Commission.  The  present-day 
world  of  city  planning  demands  a  rich  infusion  of  com- 
mon sense.  Tooj-nuch  theory  is  advanced  that  is  formal 
and  conventionalpas^pposed  to  the  practical.  There  is 
a  broad  avenue  for  escape  from  that  which  is  purely 
academic  on  the  one  hand  and  that  which  is  largely  the- 
oretic or  speculative  on  the  other. 

24 


THE  NEW  PROFESSION 

The  present-day  city  planner  is  no  longer  merely  an 
architect;  he  is  a  composite  fellow  —  architect,  engineer,     * 
promoter,    journalist,    educator,    lecturer,    lawyer    and, 
above  all,  a  diplomat. 

London  could  have  outrivaled  Paris  as  the  world's  cen- 
ter of  orderly  development  had  not  the  City  Council  in 
1666  in  large  part  rejected  the  Wren  Plan.  Plan  com- 
missions were  not  in  vogue  then. 

Great  railroad  terminals  could  not  have  projected  them- 
selves on  elevated  structures  into  the  hearts  of  two  Amer- 
ican cities  had  there  been  plan  commissions  to  prevent. 

When  Daniel  Hudson  Burnham  was  invited  to  make 
recommendations  for  relief  from  central  traffic  conges- 
tion in  New  York,  had  there  been  a  plan  commission, 
doubtless  his  suggestion  would  have  been  realized.  It 
failed,  it  was  said,  because  of  the  cost  involved.  New 
York  is  a  rich  city.  Does  a  rich  man,  when  convinced 
his  life  is  in  danger  but  can  be  saved  by  a  major  opera- 
tion, defer  the  matter  because  of  the  probable  size  of  the 
doctor's  fee?  No.  New  York's  plan  for  central  relief  '^^V<^  P  (g^h 
failed  because  it  lacked  proper  educational  propaganda 
andj^izgattized  effui  L  in  tttber-_£ssential  directions. 

The  success  of  the  Chicago  Plan  t^ius  far  is  primarily  -'       ^^ 
I ue~urr\ V o T^pcts: — Firs^,  that  rts-atvthor,  Daniel  Hudson'  ,   ^  ^     . 
Burnham,  was  more  than  a  great  architect.     He  was  a; 
real  planner  and  a  great  business  organizer.     He  sur-*  '^^^S^ 
rounded  himself  not  only  with  the  best  technical  assist- 1^'^'"^"^ 
ance  obtainable  in  America,  but  he  sought  constantly  the  |     «  '^'  ' 
advice  of  committees  of  business  men,  among  whom  were 
the  foremost  captains  of  industry  in  the  city  of  Chicago. 
^Secon^   because  when   the   Plan  of   Chicago  passed 

7U  |KAV^4  J^^^^V'>    o«4f5};    ^^V     J'(-r<r.'        ^ 

-S<^-^  Sc         0>~^    V-,       ~ 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

from  the  hands  of  Burnham  and  The  Commercial  Club  to 
the  city,  there  was  promptly  created  a  Plan  Commission, 
organized  in  its  personnel  to  cope  with  the  practical  prob- 
lems of  city  planning,  and  provided  with  funds  for  the 
establishment  of  a  promotional  department.  The  perma- 
nent  chairman  of  the_.conimission,  appointed.,, by  the 
mayor,  was  Charles  H.  WaHcer,  one  of  the  city's  leading 
men  of  affairs  —  a  man  of  tireless  energy  and  possessing 
to  aT  marked  degree  the  qualifications  necessary  for  the 
successful  realization  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago. 

In  the  early  development  of  this  Plan  —  the  most  com- 
prehensive presented  to  any  city  since  Haussmann's  Paris 
—  there  sat  in  at  the  conference  of  the  technical  people 
a  railroad  president,  ten  of  the  world's  greatest  mer- 
chants, six  bankers,  an  insurance  official,  six  capitalists, 
a  real-estate  dealer,  an  iron  manufacturer,  newspaper 
.publishers,  two  farm-implement  manufacturers,  a  coal 
dealer,  a  bridge  builder,  a  lumber  dealer,  a  corporation 
lawyer,  a  dealer  in  pig  iron,  a  printer  and  publisher,  a 
manufacturer  of  railroad  supplies  and  a  ship  chandler. 
That,  substantially,  was  Chicago's  list  of  original  city 
planners.  They  represented  the  promotive  side,  and  were 
backed  by  other  of  the  city's  foremost  business  men  who, 
while  not  doing  the  committee  work,  largely  furnished 
the  financial  sinews  of  war. 

The  technical  business  conferences  instituted  by  Mr. 
Burnham  and  the  members  of  The  Commercial  Club  and 
maintained  until  his  death  have  continued  to  be  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission,  with  its  consulting 
architect.  Edward  H.  Bennett,  who  collaborated  with  Mr. 
Burnham  in  creating  the  Plan  of  Chicago. 

26 


THE  NEW  PROFESSION 

The  example  of  this  business  organization  actively- 
identified  with  a  professional  problem  emphasizes  the 
order  of  the  day  the  world  over  in  other  directions  of 
public  concern.  This  is  notably  shown  in  the  rumored 
"  split  in  the  British  Cabinet,"  wherej_to  create^ a^bd 
it  was  urged  that  "  lawyer  politicians  "  be  supplanted  to 
"some  extent  by  naval  and  military  experts  and  business 
men  with  ^reat  organizing  capacity  who  had  proven  their 
ability  in  their  respective  lines. 

The  future  of  city  planning  in  the  United  States,  the 
function  of  the  Plan  Commission  in  financing  the  work 
under  the  "new"  profession  is  a  subject  of  sufficient 
importance  to  be  treated  in  a  separate  chapter. 


27 


CHAPTER  III 

WHAT  IS  CITY  PLANNING? 

CITY  PLANNING  is  not  understood  in  America  to- 
day and  never  will  be  until  mistaken  notions  based 
upon  popular  tradition  are  effaced.  It  never  will  be  un- 
derstood until  the  cobwebbed  theory  with  which  it  is 
enmeshed  is  unskeined.  It  never  will  be  understood  until 
most  that  is  popularly  known  is  forgotten  and  a  new  and 
real  start  is  made  out  of  our  own  experience.  This  will 
be  challenged,  but  that  is  not  my  business.  My  business 
is  to  state  the  truth  about  city  planning.  "  Rot,  rubbish, 
bunkum,"  choruses  the  city  planning  world,  "  what  about 
Pericles,  Caesar,  Wren,  Haussmann,  and  a  hoslrof  others, 
whose  names  are  written  high  in  the  hall  of  city  plan- 
ning fame  ?  Wt  have  their  works  to  guide  us ;  w-e  have 
the  example  of  properly  planned  cities  in  Athens,  Rome, 
Paris,  Dusseldorf  and  others;  we  have  the  definition  of 
city  planning  by  scores  of  modern-day  planners,  archi- 
tects, and  engineers ;  and  we  have  a  w^ealth  of  data  and 
expert  theory  on  the  subject." 

Yes,  it  must  be  admitted  that  we  have  all  that  and, 
having  it,  we  have  nothing.  We  have  nothing  because 
America  has  no  experience.  Here  an  ounce  of  ex.gmenc£ 
is  worth  ten  tons  of  theory  or  the  experience  of  others. 
Experience  derived-^frSm'the  almost  forgotten  ages  in 
countries  where  the  conditions  and  the  needs  of  the  peo- 

28 


WHAT  IS  CITY  PLANNING? 

pie  were  different  applies  but  little  to  America.  We  must 
make  our  own  experience;  then  we  can  for  a  certainty 
tell  something  about  what  city  planning  really  is. 

Pericles,  five  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
made  Athens  architecturally  the  most  beautiful  city  the 
world  ever  has  known.  Architectural  beauty  fits  only  a 
small  part  of  modern-day,  city  planning  needs.  Its  chief 
w^orth  as  exemplified  in  Athens  is  that  it  constantly  holds 
before  us  the  ideal  of  beauty.  Beauty  with  Pericles  was 
the  essential.  Practical  needs  came  second.  Pericles 
lived  and  swayed  in  an  artistic  age.  Everything  else  was 
then  subordinated  to  the  beauty  and  effectiveness  of  art. 
Jie.^eaplejiad  no  voice  in  affairs  and  their  real  needs 
were  not  consideredr^^Everything  was  for  outward  show ; 
"nothing  for  inner  helpfulness.  The  age  alone  was  not 
responsible  for  this.  Pericles  was  a  man  of  ideals  — 
ideals  suited  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived  —  and  he  had 
the  power  to  satisfy  them.  His  worth  to  the  world  will 
never  be  dimmed. 

That  is  not  the  issue.  The  issue  is  that  the  planning  of 
Athens  cannot  widen  streets  in  America;  all  the  glory  of 
her  architecture  cannot  supply  parks  and  playgrounds  for 
a  burdened  people ;  all  the  wonder  of  her  ages  cannot 
solve  our  transportation  problems.  All  the  powers  of 
Pericles  cannot  substitute  for  the  will  of  the  American 
people,  and  all  his  execution  cannot  overcome  the  inertia 
of  American  municipal  authorities.  Athenian  imperial 
decree  cannot  make  light  the  cumbersomeness  of  Ameri- 
can procedure  in  things  municipal.  What  would  Pericles 
have  done  in  Chicago  in  the  twentieth  century?  Hauss- 
mann  made  Paris  by  imperial  decree.    Paris  affords  many 

29 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

physical  examples  of  practical  worth  to  American  cities, 
but  not  one  whit  of  the  procedure  of  Paris  applies  to 
American  cities.     Paris  afforded  the  world  examples  of 
splendid  street  organization,  boulevard  beauty,  standard- 
ized height  of  buildings,  grouping  of  buildings,  placing 
^   „    ^    r.   .  oi  monuments  and  statues,  and  in  all  this  there  is  food 
'.    ^^^  for  the  technical  city  planning  mind.    Valuable  and  pleas- 
-  -  -  ^-,         ing  as  these  are,  they  do  not  tell  us  how  to  get  things  done 
>H^ri^  /i»y?r/^in  America,  and  often  they  do  not  even  apply  to  Amer- 
.  ^^^  ican  needs. 

_^/ .  The  ideal  Paris  boulevard  and  business  thoroughfare 

■*  y*    '      /   combined  did  not  apply  to  Chicago  in  widening  Twelfth 
jy         /^     Street.     It  was  planned  to  boulevard  Twelfth  Street  by 
^  making  it  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide  and  to  park  it 

^  //  ]^  with   a   double    row   of    trees.      Practical    investigation 

/  showed  that  treatment  would  not  fit  the  need.     Twelfth 

'        '  Street  is  a  business  street  coursmg  its  way  through  an 

intensive  railroad  and  industrial  area.  A  boulevard  and 
a  business  thoroughfare  combined  seemingly  is  impracti- 
cable in  America.  In  the  case  of  Twelfth  Street  the 
people  opposed  it.  They  pointed  out  that  where  a  part 
of  the  street  had  been  boulevarded  business  had  been 
killed.  They  did  not  want  a  street  so  wide  that  business 
would  be  lost  in  it.  They  wanted  their  street  preserved 
as  a  distinctive  business  artery,  which  it  was  —  destined 
to  be  one  of  the  leading  business  thoroughfares  in  the 
city.  And  so  it  was  decided  to  make  Twelfth  Street  one 
hundred  and  eight  feet  wide.  It  was  laid  out  clean  from 
curb  line  to  curb  line  to  care  for  business  and  traction 
needs  and  traffic. 

Not  Athens,  nor  Paris,  but  Constantinople  gives  the 

30 


WHAT  IS  CITY  PLANNING? 

most  encouragement  to  America.    Constantinople  has  not 
the  right  of  condemnation.     If  the  city  cannot  acquire 
from  private  owners  needed  property  for  public  use,  it 
waits  for  a  fire.    Under  the  law,  if  the  buildings  on  pri- 
vate property  are  consumed  by  fire,  the  city  has  the  right 
to  confiscate  that  property  for  public  use  without  payment 
to  the  owner.     Obviously,  when  Constantinople  wants  to 
make   public    improvements   where  pnv-ate   property   is 
needed,  a  fire  is  conveniently  started  and  the  rest  is  easy. 
The  Constantinople  method  might  tremendously  help  and 
simplify   city   planning   procedure    in    American    cities. 
What  should  be  impressed  here  is  that  city  planningjn 
Amerjca  is  npjLa„.m.ystenoiis  something  built  up  solely 
in  the  minds  of  a  limited  group  of  architects  With  city 
planning  aspirations.     It  isthe  simplest  and  most  ele-     , 
mentary  proposition  in  the  world.    The  planning  of  a  city     ((!'%«.  3^  ^ 
means  making  it  what  we  would  make  our  indtvi4iial   O^^^i- 
home  —  a  thing  of  order,  of  convenience,  and  of  attract-  '      /        ,. 
ivenes_s.     i  he  quickest  way  to  brmg  this  about  is  to  get  '       .         y 
the  people  truly  to  regard  their  city  as  their  larger  home.    '^  '"^  ^^^  \ 

Technical  skill  is  fundamental,  of  course,  and  that  is 
where  the  architect  and  engineer  step  in,  but  more  impor- 
tant than  these  are  the  tremendous  tasks  of  stirring  public 
opinion  and  securing  public  consent,  after  which  comes 
the  exasperating  problem  of  complying  with  the  manifold 
complexities  of  American  municipal  rule.  That  is  where 
the  technical  man  steps  out  and  the  promoter  steps  in. 
Education  and  procedure  are  basic  in  cit}^  planning  in 
America,  and  until  these  facts  are  grasped  by  the  people 
and  the  authorities,  no  substantial  success  will  follow. 
City  planning,  rightly  understood,  should  mean  a  boon 

31 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

to  all  the  people  in  the  city.  It  should  safeguard  and 
develop  the  interests  of  all  classes!  What  did  Athens, 
glorious  in  works  of  art,  really  do  for  its  people?  Did 
Athens,  a  symphony  of  architectural  beauty,  serve  the 
practical  needs  of  the  masses?  It  is  not  my  purpose  to 
depreciate  the  beauty  of  Athens,  but  to  show  that  the 
principal  asset  to  America  in  the  lesson  of  Athens  is  in 
its  attractiveness  and  to  reduce  that  part  to  the  practical 
needs  of  American  municipalities. 

Charles  H.  Wacker,  chairman  of  the  Chicago  Plan 
Commission,  has  reduced  the  problem  of  city  planning  in 
the  United  States  to  this  definition :  "  It  promotes  trade 
by  supplying  direct  and  easy  ways  for  the  extension  and 
development  of  commerce;  fosters  city  growth  by  mak- 
ing it  easier  and  cheaper  to  conduct  all  classes  of  busi- 
ness; increases  and  insures  all  property  values  by  pre- 
venting the  many  evils  of  haphazard  building;  makes 
every  citizen  a  more  efficient  worker  by  saving  time  and 
money  in  transit  of  goods  and  people;  and,  above  all,  it 
assures  to  that  city  which  adopts  it  a  future  citizenship 
sound  in  body,  mind,  and  morals." 

Unless  we  solve  these  problems  our  cities  cannot  con- 
tinue to  grow  and  our  people  continue  to  be  healthy, 
happy,  and  prosperous.  Thus  it  can  be  seen  how  impor- 
tant these  things  are  to  every  man  and  woman  in  the 
cities  of  our  countr}^  and  why  all  should  be  informed 
about  them. 

Salesmanship  has  been  to  me  the  biggest  word  in  the 
dictionary,  the  most  positive  thing  in  life.  Through 
salesmanship,  I  hold,  the  world  makes  the  greatest  prog- 
ress, and  from  years  of  devotion  to  that  idea  I  am  unable 

32 


" 'WHAT  IS  CITY  PLANNiN6r^ 


to  view  city  planning  advance  from  any  other  standpoint. 
From  that  vantage  ground  has  been  done  such  wotk  as 
it  has  been  my  fortune  to  be  identified  with. 

City  planning  work  in  all  its  practical  essentials  is  a 
work  of  promotion  —  salesmanship.  We  know  that  in 
this  country  advance  is  possible  only  as  we  convince  the 
majority  of  citizens  that  our  plans  for  improvement  of 
cities  are  for  the  "higBest  public  good.  There  is  no  im- 
provement on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  by  imperial  decree, 
and  the  ballot  must  precede  the  builder. 

Before  active  work  can  be  done  in  replanning  our  pres- 
ent cities  —  before  streets  may  be  widened  or  parks  cre- 
ated —  money  must  be  provided.  There  is  only  one  source 
for  this  money,  as  we  all  know,  and  that  is  the  public 
purse.  The  same  arguments  which  will  open  the  private 
purse  w^ill  open  that  of  the  masses.  The  answer,  it  is 
submitted,  is  contained  in  the  word  salesmanship. 

City  planning,  when  carried  out,  deals  first  with  real 
estate,  with  the  streets  which  the  people  own,  with  the 
parcels   of   ground    on   which   they   have   erected   their    /         , 
homes  and  places  of  business,  and  with  the  spacious  parks    2)f    t^^^ 
in  which  they  find  recreation.     The  trouble  is,   in  the  ^^  " 

United  States  our  citizens  have  been  drilled  so  thoroughly  -^^"'''^^-it^^ 
in  the  ideas  embodied  in  our  constitutional  rights  and'"^^'^  ^ 
liberties,  that  most  owners  of  property  do  not  realize,  or  ""^"^^  » ^ 
refuse  to  admit,   that  their  .ownership  is  an^  equiU^n  '^'^  ^'^..VVf 

which    is    shared    the    rights    and    privileges    of    their    '  -    -     - 

neighbors.  ^  ^  ^  -ti^/^  ^^'   ^ 

What  do  people  who  invest  in  real  estate  in  any  city  / 

buy?    It  is  not  so  much  mere  ground,  so  many  feet  this    r^^-^Pftn 
way  and  so  many  feet  another.     What  the  people  really   |\   ^.o  ^ 

33  ;^}f^^  y ''''■■■ .      't>^ 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

buy  is  civilization.  They  buy  transportation,  electricity, 
gas,  glimpses  of  the  ocean  in  one  city,  vistas  of  parks  in 
another,  and  views  of  boulevards  in  a  third. 

What  is  city  planning?/ 

In  its  very  essence,  it  is  the  intensification  of  civili- 

Thus  the  city  planner,  to  succeed,  must  be  a^salesman 
—  a  salesman  of  civilization,  convenience,  health, -aii4. 
beautj.  These  intangible  things  command  the  highest 
price  because  they  bestow  the  richest  blessings. 

Viewing  city  planning  as  a  matter  oi  salesmanship,  it^ 
is  a  problem  of  arousing  interest,  creating  human  desire, 
stirring  the.  spirit  for  better  things  and  inspiring  human 
action. 

Primarily  to  that  end  all  effort  should  be  devoted.  New 
methods  should  be  employed.  It  is  obvious  that  no  sales- 
man of  civilization  can  win  his  way  until  he  has  over- 
come, as  a  first  step,  the  obstacles  of  lethargy  and  indif- 
ference. It  is  not  opposition  which  retards  city  planning 
in  America.  It.  is  non-education,  indifference,  procrasti- 
nation and  lack  of  foresight  These  are  the  mountains  to 
be  moved.  It  is  not  difficult  to  convince  the  mature  indi- 
vidual of  the  wisdom  of  city  planning.  The  first  diffi- 
culty is  to  get  him  to  give  serious  attention  to  your  argu- 
ments and,  secondly,  to  stir  him  to  action  when  con- 
vinced. 

There  is  something  in  that  masterpiece  of  literature 
and  inspiration  which  many  of  us  read  too  seldom  and 
too  scantily,  to  the  effect  that  "As  the  twig  is  bent  the 
tree  inclineth." 

In  the  employment  of  new  methods,  it  is  upon  that  idea 

34 


WHAT  IS  CITY  PLANNING? 

as  the  foundation  that  work  was  begun  for  the  future 
reaHzation  of  the  great  Plan  of  Chicago. 

The  ultimate  solution  of  all  the  major  problems  of 
American  cities  lies  in  the  e3ucation  of  ou r, xhildren ^  to 
their  responsibility  as  the  future  owners  of  our  munici- 
palities and  the  arbiters  of  their  governmental  destinies. 

What  startling  changes  have  come  upon  American 
cities  within  the  past  few  years !  The  demand  f^r  social 
justice  is  upon  us.  The  people  are  clamoring  for  relief 
from  evil  conditions  in  all  of  our  cities.  The  day  of 
regeneration  is  dawning  for  the  American  city.  Day- 
light cannot  come  except  as  we  enlighten  for  good  citizen- 
ship in  our  schools  and  shape  the  course  of  the  developing 
citizen  toward  the  realization  of  higher  ideals.  "TP^  r  ja''^-<^- 

The  true  function  of  the  American  school  system  is  the^^/v.  <Jua.-^'^i 
production  of  a  citizeriship  iii  wTiich  the  training  of  the-^';i''^t>v^  "h 
'brain  and  building  of  the  body  has  been  blended  with  the'^-','^^^'''^ 
development  of  the  higher  qualities  of   soul  and  con-      5^^  c!f-iTt 
science.  We  have  reached  a  time  when  the  citizen,  to  do 
his  duty,  must  give  heed  to  the  welfare  of  coming  gen- 
erations and  when  our  youth  must  be  instructed  in  their 
obligations  to  their  fellows  and  to  the  cities  which  shelter 
and  develop  them.    In  this  right  citizenship  in  relation  to 
city  planning  is  an  essential  reqiiisite. 

Our  cities  are  coming  into  control  of  our  nation,  and 
if  we  are  to  have  a  sustained  national  patriotism,  we  must 
begin  its  development  and  cultivation  by  creating  in  the 
growing  generation  impulses  for  good  order,  cleanliness, 
honesty,  and  economy  in  the  physical  growth  and  political 
conduct  of  our  cities.  The  most  vital  course  to  that  end 
is  the  public  school,  and  the  best  instrument  for  its  accom- 

35 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

plishment  is  the  education  of  the  children  in  the  elements 
of  city  planning. 

Our  cities  are  interdependent  in  their  striving  for  better 
things.  The  glories  that  were  Rome's  and  Athens'  re- 
sulted from  the  creation  among  their  citizens  of  the  spirit 
of  civic  devotion,  and  there  is  little  room  for  doubt  that 
this  work  of  fostering  city  pride  and  loyalty  was  started 
in  the  very  early  boyhood  and  girlhood  of  their  youth.  It 
found  its  fruition  in  the  magnificent  cities  which  today, 
from  their  ruins,  bespeak  for  their  builders  the  respect 
and  admiration  of  the  modern  world. 

City  planning  is  a  science  that  is  as  old  as  the  building 
of  cities.  A  plan  for  a  city  is  quite  as  simple  as  a  plan 
for  a  residence.  The  latter  has  merely  to  do  with  our 
individual  home  —  the  former  with  our  larger  home,  our 
city. 

Much  may  be  accomplished  in  this  generation^^^buLthe 
building  of  the  future  city  is  not  in  our  hands.  Itjs  in 
~~tKeT)rains"and  hearts  of  America^children.  The  regen- 
eratioffof  the  AmericaiTcity  and  the  preservation  of  the 
American  nation  must  come  from  the  efforts  and  the  wills 
of  an  educated  and  civicly  enlightened,  scientifically  cre- 
ated citizenship. 

It  is  not  only  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  help  make 
his  city  a  clean  and  comfortable  place  in  which  to  live 
but,  incidentally,  a  splendid  business  investment  to  make 
it  so  attractive  to  everyone,  both  resident  and  nonresi- 
dent, that  some  of  the  millions  of  money  spent  elsewhere 
each  year  will  remain  at  home.  There  is  another  and 
deeper  motive  in  planning  for  the  future  greatness  of  the 
city  than  its  splendid  material  upbuil4mgr    This  is  of  sig- 

36 


Spokane.    Main  Street,  flanked  by  modern  office  buildings.    In  1894 
the  site  of  the  present  wonderful  city  was  a  small  trading  post. 


WHAT  IS  CITY  PLANNING? 

iiificance  only  as  it  expresses  the  actual  social,  intellectual, 
and  moral  upbuilding  of  the  pepple,  and  so  far  as  in  turn 
it  opens  the  way  for  further  development  of  this  higher 
type.  City  building,  as  Wacker  declares,  means  V  man  X 
building."  Who  is  there  among  us  who  is  not  lifted 
above  sordid  industrial  existence  into  the  realm  of  the 
beautiful  and  ennobling  things  in  life  by  attractive  sur- 
roundings? Beautiful  parks;  fine  monuments;  well-laid- 
out  streets,  properly  lighted,  paved,  and  amply  provided 
with  shade  trees;  relief  from  noise,  dirt,  and  confusion 
—  all  these  things  and  many  others  are  agencies  that 
make  not  only  for  the  future  greatness  of  the  city  but  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  all  the  people  within  its  gates. 
The  ideal  of  a  city  must  rise  above  mere  commercial  and 
industrial  supremacy,  taking  the  higher  level  of  becoming 
an  attractive,  composite  home  for  its  residents,  both  of 
large  and  small  means,  as  well  as  for  the  sojourner. 

Such  a  city  would  not  only  attract  a  multitude  of  people 
seeking  a  home  offering  all  the  best  advantages  of  city 
life,  but  would  also  restrain  its  citizens  to  some  extent 
from  going  abroad  seeking  the  advantages  their  own  city 
should  give.  While  the  wealthier  class  of  citizens  in  any 
community  can  build  up  beautiful  residence  sections  on 
well-laid-out  avenues  and  boulevards,  what  will  become 
of  those  who  have  neither  organization  nor  money  to  aid 
them  in  intelligently  planning  the  most  meager  comforts 
of  ordinary  home,  surroundings?  The  interests  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  most  unfortunate  districts  must  be 
safeguarded  beyond  anything  else,  for  they  and  their  chil- 
dren form  the  backbone  of  the  intelligent  American  labor- 
ing class. 

Z7 


CHAPTER  IV 

AMERICAN  CITIES THEIR  GROWTH,  NEEDS,  AND  DANGERS 

THE  destinies  of  the  world's  nations  today  hang 
upon  the  cities.  Yesterday  —  fifty  years  ago  —  that 
is  yesterday  in  the  life  of  a  nation  —  ninety-seven  out  of 
every  one  hundred  people  in  the  United  States  were  rural 
residents. 

Today  —  fifty-four  out  of  every  hundred  live  in  cities. 

The  masses  are  swarming  to  the  cities.  The  urban 
population  is  running  a  neck-and-neck  race  with  the  rural 
for  supremacy  in  national  affairs. 

What  of  the  city? 

What  is  more  sensible  than  increasing  the  nation's 
wealth  by  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  nation's  greatest 
asset  —  the  health  and  well-being  of  the  urban  popula- 
tion? 

The  life  of  a  nation  is  the  life  of  its  people. 

The  national  life  is  great  or  dwarfed  just  in  propor- 
tion as  the  life  of  the  people  is  broad  and  developed,  or 
mean  and  stunted. 

In  the  days  of  the  Civil  War,  the  United  States  was 
nurtured  by  the  sturdy,  healthy,  honest,  and  capable 
countryman.  Now  the  country  and  the  city  equally  sup- 
ply the  storehouse  of  the  nation  with  statesmen,  navy, 
army,  and  civilians. 

What  effect  is  this   "fifty-fifty"  proposition  having 

38 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

upon  the  life  of  the  nation  —  is  it  sound  or  wholesome? 

Is  the  nation  virile ;  are  its  red  corpuscles  untainted,  up 
to  the  full  normal  count;  or  do  the  white  parasitic  cor- 
puscles with  anaemic  sickliness  course  through  its  veins  ? 

The  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  cities. 

Preparedness  —  the  Great  War  brought  new  and  sin- 
ister meaning  to  that  word.  America  must  have  body, 
soul,  and  mind  preparedness. 

The  supreme  nation  of  Tomorrow  will  be  the  nation 
of  strong  individual  manhood. 

Whether  the  future  reign  of  the  world  shall  be  peace- 
ful or  turbulent,  the  nation  strong  of  manhood  will  domi- 
nate. 

The  world's  Tomorrow  may  usher  in  a  contest  of  wits 
among  nations  or  it  may  bring  a  new  and  more  terrible 
contest  of  brawn.    In  either  case  manhood  will  survive. 

The  strongest  nation  will  be  that  nation  which  does  the 
most  for  its  people  in  cities. 

Up  to  the  present,  American  cities,  spongelike,  have 
drained  their  citizens.  Precious  little  have  they  given  in 
return  for  their  massed  material  wealth.  For  those  who 
can  pay,  yes,  the  cities  return  something,  but  poor  is  the 
compensation  even  for  the  rich. 

The  tide  of  tourist  travel  away  from  America  toward 
Europe,  demonstrated  in  19 12  how  meager  were  the  in- 
ducements of  American  cities  to  attract  and  retain  in  their 
own  country  the  hoard  of  tourists'  gold. 

In  that  year  France  received  from  American  travelers 
six  hundred  million  dollars.  Switzerland  received  one 
hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars,  and  Italy  one  hundred 
million  dollars. 

39 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

America's  manhood  in  cities  must  grow  strong,  aided 
by  ample  means  for  healthful  recreation,  by  literature  of 
•character,  by  music  placed  within  the  reach  of  all  the 
people,  and  the  allied  arts  and  sciences  made  easy  of  at- 
tainment. 

Industrial  and  vocational  education,  every  means  of 
self -advancement,  cultural  as  well  as  industrial,  hjgienic 
as  well  as  psychological,  must  be  supplied  if  the  nation 
is  to  be  kept  from  those  pursuits  and  pastimes  which 
cause  decay,  degeneracy,  and  disintegration. 

Those  things  must  be  supplied  which  make  for  good 
cTtizenship,  and  they  must  be  placed  within  the  easy  grasp 
of  the  people.  That  is  the  debt  the  cities  owe  their  people 
—  a  debt  that  has  gone  too  long  unpaid ;  a  debt  that  soon 
must  be  paid  if  physical,  moral,  mental,  yes  and  financial, 
bankruptcy  are  to  be  averted  in  the  nation. 

As  rapidly  as  we  have  been  bankrupting  our  national 
resources  and  our  American  manhood,  as  alarming  as  the 
results  have  become,  these  are  as  nothing  compared  with 
the  tax  burden  that  has  been  put  upon  the  people  of  the 
world  because  of  the  Great  War. 

ill  providing  our  people  witli  means  for  healthful  recre- 
ation and  useful  occupation.  This  means  deYelo.ping_in 
r,ur  nation.LQd^:,_^pul,  and  mind  stalwarts.  It  means  that 
such  a  nation  can  only  attain  development  through  the 
scientific  planning  of  its  cities. 

Back  of  all  this  is  the  fact  that  the  success  of  the  nation 
depends  upon  its  commerce.  A  thriving  commerce  is  un- 
restricted in  its  legitimate  expansion.  A  stagnant  com- 
merce is  hampered  and  unaided  in  its  efforts  to  expand. 

40 


ly   — «y   - 


Philadelphia.     Broad  Street  looking  north  from  Locust  Street      In 

two  decades,   from    1898  to   1918,    Philadelphia  grew    from 

1,219,463  to  a  city  of  1,709,518  people. 


.^^^^^^' 

\i^^^ 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

Building  cities  as  they  should  be,  means  supplying~tHe>,'     v/^ 
greatest  possible  lubricant  to  an  easy  and  successful  com-il 
merce.  __J 

When  we  properly  improve  and  systematize  city  thor- 
oughfares, we  facilitate  transferring  and  thus  is  com- 
merce aided. 

When  we  make  possible  and  accomplish  the  best  devel- 
opment of  railway  lines,  especially  terminal  facilities,  we 
give  a  great  boon  to  commerce. 

Whenever  transportation  of  any  kind  is  expanded  and 
facilitated,  commerce  is  aided  and  advanced. 

When  we  create  parks,  playgrounds,  pleasure  piers,  and 
bathing  beaches,  we  aid  the  efficiency  of  the  people  by 
increasing  the  public  health.  Commerce  is  also  a  bene- 
ficiary. 

In  March,  19 17,  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  by 
a  vote  of  five  to  four,  upheld  the  Adamson  Law,  which 
provided  for  a  uniform  eight-hour  day  for  railroad  em- 
ployes or  the  alternative  of  ten  hours'  pay  for  eight  hours' 
work.  It  was  estimated  it  would  cost  the  companies  fifty 
million  dollars  per  annum  to  comply  with  this  law.  When 
the  Adamson  Law  was  introduced  in  Congress,  the  busi- 
ness element  of  the  country,  through  a  representative 
committee,  attempted  to  secure  the  appointment  of  a 
Board  of  Arbitration  for  the  purpose  of  analyzing  the 
question  both  in  the  interests  of  the  railway  companies 
and  their  employes.  This  effort  failed.  The  railroad  side 
of  the  question  had  an  insufficient  hearing,  notwithstand- 
ing fifty  million  dollars  is  fifty  million  dollars.  It  was 
generally  conceded  that  the  Adamson  Law  would  not  be 
held  constitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court,  but  its  adjudi- 

41 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

cation,  by  a  vote  of  five  to  four,  is  now  a  matter  of  his- 
tory. Immediately  the  railway  companies  sought  relief 
through  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  by  de- 
manding a  hearing  before  that  body  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  a  five  per  cent  increased  freight-rate  privilege  to 
offset  the  burdensome  tax  of  fifty  miUion  dollars  im- 
posed upon  them  and  to  enable  them  to  secure  necessary 
capital  for  development  work.  I  am  not  taking  the  side 
of  the  railroads  in  this  controversy  and  I  do  not  know 
whether  the  employes  were  just  in  their  demands  and  if 
these  should  have  been  conceded,  but  I  do  know  the  dis- 
position in  this  country  in  recent  years  has  been  to 
harass  capital  by  restricting  legislation,  which  always 
tends  to  arrest  natural  development  and  expansion. 
There  is  something  paradoxical  in  the  whole  situation 
of  labor  versus  capital.  My  personal  opinion  is  that 
there  is  ample  room  for  revision  of  ideas  and  demands 
on  both  sides  of  the  question.  It  is  also  a  fact  worthy 
the  consideration  of  the  laboring  element  that  labor 
can  be  supplied  and  wages  maintained  only  through 
the  power  of  the  great  industrial  companies  to  properly 
and  legitimately  expand.  When  expansion  is  restricted 
labor  becomes  a  drug  on  the  market  —  a  condition  labor 
seldom  seems  to  appreciate. 

The  very  things  the  railway  executives  wanted  reme- 
died at  that  time  were  remedied  later  by  the  government 
when  it  took  over  the  railroads.  Due  to  war  conditions, 
it  immediately  raised  the  freight  rates  twenty-five  per 
cent  and  the  passenger  rates  —  which  the  private  owners 
did  not  dream  of  increasing  —  were  varyingly  increased, 
despite    which    the    first    year's    operation    showed    an 

42 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

enormotK  deficit.  All  America  now  knows  —  and  no 
one  more  surely  than  government  officials  —  how  fright- 
fully our  country  was  hampered  shortly  after  it  entered 
the  war  because  of  inadequate  and  clogged  railway  facili- 
ties due  to  long  periods  of  hampering  and  restrictive 
legislation  prior  to  the  war. 

During  the  food  shortage  in  the  United  States  in  the 
spring  of  19 17,  when  prices  were  soaring  beyond  prece- 
dent in  all  directions,  it  developed  that  the  situation  was 
only  partially  chargeable  to  shortage.  Congestion  of 
freight  cars  in  railway  terminals  cut  a  very  large  figure. 
On  this  point,  the  Chicago  Tribune  editorially  said : 

The  food  crisis  and  soaring  prices  are  complicated  by 
the  complete  breakdown  of  the  railroads  in  carrying. 
Our  national  policy  should  be  changed.  The  nation  can- 
not expect  to  control  food  prices  unless  it  permits  the 
organization  of  responsible  food  trusts  and  it  cannot 
expect  the  railroads  to  bear  the  burden  of  industrial 
expansion  unless  it  permits  them  to  expand.  We  have 
been  kicking  the  railroads  and  busting  the  trusts;  the 
result  inevitably  has  been  chaos  in  their  distributive  sys- 
tem. So  long  as  we  stick  to  the  idea  of  punishing  organ- 
izations instead  of  regulating  them  intelligently,  we  shall 
have  with  us  thousands  of  irresponsible  speculators  in- 
stead of  a  few  responsible  institutions. 

Our  government,  has  persistently  refused  to  see  the 
necessity  of  protecting  the  railroads  and  fostering  their 
expansion.  It  has  failed  to  see  that  unless  there  are 
governing  organizations,  the  responsibility  for  economic 
ills  cannot  be  fixed  on  anyone.  We  cannot  regulate 
prices  if  we  would  because  we  have  not  permitted  the 
machinery  for  regulation  to  act.     We  cannot  make  the 

43 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

railroads  carry  enough  goods  because  we  have  not  per- 
mitted the  railroads  to  expand.  Our  food  situation  is 
the  inevitable  result  of  our  lack  of  foresight. 

One  thing  is  certain  —  the  government  has  since  gained 
a  liberal  education  in  both  directions.  What  will  come  of 
it?  Government  ownership,  or  a  sympathetic  treatment 
of  the  present  owners  by  the  government?  The  latter 
would  seem  to  be  the  wise  policy.  America  is  not  ready 
for  government  ownership  of  railroads;  it  will  not  be 
ready  for  such  a  move  for  fifty  years.  Government  own- 
ership leads  to  standardization;  standardizing  ^American 
enterprise  now  means  the  death  knell  of  real  progress. 
Government  ownership  in  Europe,  as  shown  by  the  case 
of  Italy,  has  proven  unsatisfactory.  At  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  plans  were  under  consideration  by  the  Italian 
government  to  turn  the  roads  back  to  private  ownership. 
The  economic  conditions  of  Europe  are  different  from 
those  of  America,  and  conditions  here  for  the  next  half 
century  will  not  require  the  assassination  of  desirable  but 
controlled  competition. 

The  human  productive  activity  Of  any  great  city  or  of 
any  community  has  to  bear  certain  overhead  charges  as 
a  whole,  just  as  has  every  business.  The  burden  which 
comes  to  a  community  by  reason  of  preventive  sickness 
and  death,  which  has  to  be  borne  by  the  community  as  a 
whole,  makes  up  a  staggering  load  of  millions  of  dollars. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  in  the  United  States  typhoid 
fever  alone  has  caused  a  preventable  loss  of  six  hundred 
million  dollars  —  every  dollar  of  which  was  borne  by 
the  public.  Every  man  who  is  cut  off  in  the  prime  of  his 
greatest  productive  activity  by  death,  or  who  exists  in  a 

44 


i 


ll 


w^«l 


OL^S^  vvvv>^^^ 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

condition  of  impaired  vitality  or  usefulness,  becomes  a 
charge  upon  the  community. 

The  value  of  health  preparedness  through  the  proper 
building  of  cities  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal.  This  great  drainage 
system  cost  sixty  million  dollars.  A  health  commissioner 
of  Chicago  is  authority  for  the  statement  that,  if  the 
typhus  death  rate  which  existed  before  the  canal  was 
constructed  had  continued  after  it  was  built  at  the  same 
ratio  until  the  year  19 12,  the  loss  would  have  been  sev- 
enty-five million  dollars  —  enough  to  pay  for  the  canal 
and  a  great  deal  more.  It  was  found  that  fifteen  thou- 
sand citizens  had  not  died  of  this  disease  between  the 
time  of  the  completion  of  the  canal  and  the  period  men- 
tioned. This  represented  a  monetary  value  of  seventy- 
five  million  dollars. 

It  is  estimated  by  economists  that  the  average  value  of 
each  living  human  organism  or  life  to  the  community  or 
to  society  is  twenty-nine  hundred  dollars  per  person.  The 
wealth  of  a  nation  is  rated  by  its  population.  On  this 
basis,  the  economic  value  of  the  people  of  Chicago  Octo- 
ber I,  191 5,  was  $7,155,105,400,  which  was  equal  to  the 
estimated  total  wealth  of  the  United  States  in  1850. 

Increases  in  population  have  taken  place  in  the  United 
States  which  would  have  been  thought  unbelievable  two 
decades  ago.  This  remarkable  development  in  the  growth 
of  cities  has  not  been  confined  to  the  newer  or  more 
potential  sections  of  the  country.  It  has  been  country- 
wide in  its  distribution.  Boston,  the  metropolitan  center 
of  the  nation's  oldest  civilization,  twenty  years  ago  had  a 
population  of  526,576;  today  it  is  757,420. 

45 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

New  York  half  a  generation  ago  was  2,860,091 ;  now 
it  is  5,602,841. 

Philadelphia  in  two  decades  has  grown  from  1,219,463 
to  1,709,518. 

Atlanta,  little  more  than  a  "country  seat,"  is  today 
the  metropolis  of  the  vast  southwestern  area  with  a 
population  of  190,558. 

Birmingham,  the  southern  Pittsburgh,  in  twenty  years 
has  become  a  first-class  city  with  181,762. 

The    real    Pittsburgh    has    grown    from    419,229    to 

579.091. 

Staid  old  romantic  New  Orleans  has  felt  the  influx 
with  an  increase  of  thirty-six  per  cent. 

Chicago,  the  central  metropolis,  has  soared  from  i,- 
518,742  to  2,497,722.  Each  3^ear  Chicago  has  added 
to  its  population  numerically  a  city  the  size  of  Peoria. 

Detroit,  its  neighbor  on  the  east,  ascending  like  a  sky- 
rocket from  261,693,  has  attained  an  altitude  of  603,993. 

Cleveland,  the  Hamburg  of  the  Great  Lakes,  has  cat- 
apulted herself  skyward  in  nearly  the  same  ratio. 

Dayton  has  grown  from  a  trade  center  of  farmers  to 
a  teeming  manufacturing  center  of  127,224. 

Minneapolis,  the  nation's  north-central  outpost,  has 
sustained  an  increase  of  eighty-nine  per  cent. 

Denver,  a  mile  high  in  the  Rockies,  has  kept  her  alti- 
tude with  a  one  hundred  and  seven  per  cent  increase. 

Oklahoma  City,  twenty  years  ago  the  center  of  the 
Indian  Territory,  and  scarcely  a  dot  on  the  open  prairie 
now  boasts  of  95,265. 

At  that  time  Dallas  was  budding  forth  with  43,445, 
timidly  pushing  up  her  first  skyscrapers  —  a  perilous  oc- 

46 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

cupation  then.  It  is  now  dotted  with  tall  buildings,  fine 
hotels,  and  is  a  hustling  citizen  army  of  126,362. 

Houston  has  gone  the  same  way,  pushing  Dallas  liard. 

Kansas  City  has  jumped  ahead  with  an  increase  of 
ninety-two  per  cent. 

Los  Angeles,  the  southern  sentinel  of  the  Pacific,  has 
lead  the  western  Marathon  from  a  start  of  96,853  to  a 
finish  of  519,206. 

San  Francisco,  the  gateway  to  the  Orient,  devastated 
Ijy  fire  and  earthr[uake,  with  the  sublime  spirit  of  Ameri- 
can frontier  fortitude,  leaps  despite  her  terrible  handicap, 
from  329,344  to  467,269. 

Portland,  the  Eden  of  the  Central  Pacific  Coast,  bask- 
ing luxuriously  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Hood,  has  fared 
sumptuously  as  shown  in  the  increase  of  two  hundred 
and  eighty-tW'O  per  cent. 

Seattle,  the  Naples  of  America,  wondrous  of  setting, 
gate  to  Alaska,  thirty-five  years  old  —  is  348,639. 

Spokane,  a  ranchmen's  trading  post  twenty  years  ago, 
is  today  a  metropolitan  city  of  150,323. 

During  these  two  decades  the  population  of  the  United 
States  increased  from  72,080,516  to  102,017.312.  Of 
this  increase  of  29,936,796,  forty-four  and  one-half  per 
cent  went  to  the  cities. 

The  growth  of  our  cities  is  phenomenal  and  the  list  as 
a  result  is  too  great  to  enumerate  completely.  There  is 
more  wonder  perhaps  in  the  remarkable  increases  in  the 
old  cities  like  New  Orleans  and  Philadelphia,  than  the 
new  cities  of  Oklahoma  City  and  Los  Angeles. 

The  significance  of  this  marvelous  development  is  in  its 
uniformity.     Two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  cities  in  the 

47 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

United  States  now  have  a  population  in  excess  of  twenty- 
five  thousand. 

The  partial  table  shown  is  startling  enough  to  stir  us 
to  action  because,  if  cities  are  to  be  saved  from  them- 
selves and  properly  aided  to  continue  their  marvelous 
expansion,  proper  city  planning  must  be  effected.  During 
all  this  amazing  advance  in  the  population  of  American 
cities,  unprecedented  in  the  entire  world,  what  has  been 
done  for  the  city  dweller?  What  has  been  the  develop- 
ment of  the  cities  along  scientific  lines?  What,  basically, 
has  been  done  for  the  moral,  sociological,  and  physical 
upbuilding  of  the  people  in  the  cities?  Practically  noth- 
ing. Yes,  parks  have  been  dieveloped,  electric  lights  have 
flashed  forth,  rapid  transit  has  come,  our  school  system 
is  expanding,  charitable  institutions  have  been  nurtured 
and  increased  —  but  beyond  these,  what?  Meager  re- 
turns to  the  people  who  have  increased  the  wealth  in  the 
cities  to  a  vastly  greater  extent  than  the  increase  in  popu- 
lation. The  city  dweller  has  been  given  nothing  beyond 
the  actual  requirements  of  his  direct  needs  for  the  promo- 
tion of  his  business  or  industrial  welfare,  the  education 
of  his  children  and  the  care  of  the  improvident. 

More  than  this  he  deserves,  more  he  is  entitled  to,  more 
he  demands,  and  more  he  most  assuredly  will  get  if  the 
nation  is  to  maintain  its  rightful  place  after  the  recon- 
struction following  the  Great  War. 

The  masses  in  the  cities  have  a  right  to  grow  and  ex- 
pand mentally,  morally,  psychologically,  physically  ►i^^^ 
yes  and  even  financially  —  in  the  exact  ratio  in  which 
they  have  made  possible  the  tremendous  expansion  and 
wealth  of  the  cities  themselves. 

48 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

During  these  twenty  years  of  neglect,  not  only  have 
our  people  in  cities  been  denied  their  rightful  heritage, 
not  only  has  their  health  been  menaced,  their  morals 
stunted  and  their  general  prosperity  and  happiness 
shrunken,  but  to  this  there  has  been  added  a  tremendous 
economic  loss  and  consequent  burden  resulting  from  pro- 
crastination. Meanwhile  the  cost  of  these  paramount 
needs,  which  eventually  must  be  supplied,  has  not  only 
soared  but  will  constantly  increase. 

America's  greatest  issue  is  the  proper  planning  of  her 
cities.  This  does  not  admit  of  haphazard  or  sporad- 
ic effort.  When  blissfully  dwelling  in  the  midst  of 
peace  and  plenty,  it  was  characteristic  of  the  American 
people  to  become  stirred  to  action  only  when  face  to  face 
with  dire  need.  Then  too  often  we  acted  with  hysterical 
haste  and  did  the  wrong  thing. 

We  know  better  now  and  in  safeguarding  our  cities, 
we  must  not  permit  our  old  habits  to  control  our  actions. 
There  is  no  further  time  to  lose  in  beginning  the  proper 
building  of  cities  in  America.  More  breathing  space; 
freedom  from  dirt,  noise,  and  confusion;  tpore  attractive 
surroundings;  easieruneans  of-feFafSc_rnovement;  better 
means  for  healthful  recreation  —  all  these  are  basic  in 
scientific  city  planning.  Eventually  we  will  have  to  sup- 
ply vastly  more. 

More  than  ever  in_  the  future  will  our  cities  require 
that  we  realize  that  our  people  must  be  given  every  ad- 
vantage for  industrial  education,  every  advantage  of  the 
arts  and  scTences,  every  advantage  for  healthful  recrea- 
ttori,  so  that  the  body-soul-and-mind  men  may  predomin- 
ate and  the  nation  grow  strong  and  endure  to  the  end. 

49 


i-^' 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

We  move  through  life  so  thoughtlessly  and  carelessly, 
little  do  we  suspect  what  may  come  upon  us  and  nothing 
do  we  do  to  anticipate  misfortune  and  vicissitude. 
Nations  in  this  respect  are  like  individuals;  particularly 
is  that  true  of  our  own  country.  How  infinitely  better 
it  would  be  if  we  could  learn  to  perceive  our  needs  and 
prepare  for  them. 

On  every  hand  are  examples  of  our  national  improvi- 
dence. 

Seldom  do  we  see  evidences  of  foresight  where  it  is 
most  needed. 

Every  year  floods  along  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  River 
banks  cause  millions  of  loss  in  a  vast,  rich,  and  populous 
territor3^  Each  year  new  and  tremendous  loss  is  sus- 
tained. 

This  has  been  our  experience  for  years  until  it  culmin- 
ated in  the  terrible  tragedy,  economic  and  human,  with 
Dayton  as  the  hub,  in  19 13,  which  cost  five  hundred  and 
twenty-one  precious  lives  and  the  appalling  money  loss 
of  $163,564,793. 

What  criminal  pity  is  there  in  the  fact  that  govern- 
ment aid  is  not  employed  to  the  extent  of  the  investment 
of  hundreds  of  millions,  if  necessary,  in  the  construction 
of  works  to  prevent  such  loss.  The  initial  cost  would  be 
great,  but  this  would  be  saved  many  times  in  the  end. 

From  1832  to  1913,  according  to  the  United  States 
Weather  Bureau,  nineteen  floods  occurred,  during  which 
the  w^ater  was  five  feet  or  more  above  flood  stage  at 
Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati,  and  Cairo.  It  reached  a  maximum 
of  seventy  feet,  or  twenty  feet  above  flood  stage,  at  Cin- 
cinnati April  I,  19 1 3.    Interspersed  were  many  occasions 

50 


"^^ 


*»«* 


®^•'"• 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

when  the  water  was  above  flood  stage  in  degrees  ranging 
all  the  way  from  thirty-five  feet  up  to  the  maximum. 
The  great  majority  of  these  floods  were  due  to  heavy 
rainfalls  in  the  Ohio  basin. 

The  great  jlpod  in  March,  1913,  was  due  to  excessive 
rainfall  upon  a  surface  already  saturated.  More  than 
100  municipalities  in  Ohio  were  affected  and  the  total 
population  directly  concerned  numbered  1,388,000.  The 
approximate  number  of  residences  flooded  was  40,637, 
and  of  houses  destroyed,  2,220. 

The  railroad  losses  amounted  to  $16,168,565.  The 
telephone  and^  telegraph  companies  sustained  a  loss  of 
$2,003,179.  The  total  loss  in  fifteen  districts  on  other 
properties  such  as  buildings,  bridges,  highways,  matured 
or  prospective  crops,  farms  and  live  stock,  and  losses 
occasioned  by  the  suspension  of  business  amounted  to 
$149,393,049,  making  a  grand  total  of  $163,564,793. 

This  frightful  figure  represents  the  loss  of  a  single 
flood.  If  applied,  it  would  pay  for  protective  construc- 
tion. The  loss  of  the  1913  flood  alone  would  pay  for 
tlje^^entire  Plan  of  TThicago  with  lis  contemplated  198 
miles  of  street  improvements,  parks,  boulevards,  and 
transportation  rehabilitation. 

I  do  not  know  what  it  would  cost  to  construct  engineer- 
ing works  to  prevent  these  periodical  floods,  but  the  cost 
of  just  one  flood  —  $163,564,793  —  is  nearly  half  the  en- 
tire cost  of  digging  the  Panama  Canal.  In  all  probability 
that  one  sum  alone  would  be  sufficient  to  protect  the 
entire  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys  from  any  recurrence 
of  such  deadly  devastation. 

This  huge  loss  does  not  include  the  monetary  value  of 

51 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

the  521  lives  lost.  On  the  basis  of  the  value  of  a 
human  life  $2,900  —  this  adds  another  $1,450,000.  I 
suggested  to  a  prominent  engineering  firm  in  the  afflicted 
district  that  something  might  be  done  to  prevent  such 
loss  and  I  was  reprimanded  by  them  for  my  ignorance 
of  the  whole  subject.  Coming  on  the  heels  of  this, 
however,  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that,  under  the  Ohio 
State  Charter,  there  has  been  organized  the  Miami 
Conservancy  District,  with  plans  to  spend  $20,000,000 
on  initial  plans  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  the  flood. 
Odd  as  it  may  seem,  the  thing  to  be  adopted  is  the 
Dry  Reservoir  Plan  known  to  engineers  for  hundreds 
of  years.  The  people  of  the  prosperous  Ohio  Valley  — 
known  as  the  Miami  —  have  at  last  gone  to  work  on  the 
theory  that  the  floods  of  the  past  have  been  unnecessary 
evils,  and  are  now  determined  to  be  freed  from  such 
dangers  for  all  time  to  come. 

This  work  is  to  be  financed  by  bond  issue  and  it  is 
pointed  out  that  the  property  affected  will  have  an  added 
value  of  $100,000,000,  although  the  safety  plans  will  cost 
but  $20,000,000.  Here  is  proper  planning  actually 
showing  a  huge  profit  —  as  is  always  the  case  —  to  say 
nothing  of  saving  an  enormous  loss. 

The  foot-and-mouth  disease  epidemic  in  cattle  in  the 
year  19 14  in  the  United  States  caused  a  loss  to  private 
owners  of  between  five  and  six  million  dollars.  One 
hundred  and  twenty-four  thousand  animals  were  killed 
in  twenty-two  states.  Illinois  was  the  worst  sufferer  — 
fifty-one.  counties  being  affected.  The  first  outbreak, 
it  is  said,  was  due  to  a  wrong  diagnosis  by  a  government 
expert  at  Niles,  Michigan.     It  is  claimed  that  this  cattle 

52 


Of  Hit 
UHWERS»TY  Of  lU.tN<* 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

disease  is  hundreds  of  years  old  and  has  been  practically 
stamped  out  in  Germany  and  Holland.  It  has  appeared 
in  the  United  States  on  six  different  occasions — 1880, 
1884,  1890,  1902,  1908,  and  1 9 14.  The  19 14  outbreak 
was  the  most  serious.  Instead  of  adopting  preventive 
measures  in  the  United  States,  we  slaughtered  whole 
herds  of  valuable  animals  and  but  partially  compensated 
the  owners  with  government  money  at  the  market  price 
per  head  for  cattle  on  the  hoof. 

Did  we  have  any  special  dispensation  of  Providence 
that  a  foot-and-mouth  disease  epidemic  would  not  some 
day  attack  and  destroy  with  terrible  loss  thousands  of 
cattle  in  our  own  country  ?  No,  with  the  sense  of  security 
of  an  ostrich  with  his  head  hidden  in  the  sand,  we  made 
no  effort  to  anticipate  this  calamity.  As  a  result  of  our 
fashion  of  shortsightedness  and  unpreparedness,  we  per- 
mitted it  to  come  upon  us  to  be  met  with  ruthless  disre- 
gard of  private  rights  or  values.  Avoidance  could  have 
been  had  in  profiting  by  the  experience  of  world-old 
cattle  countries. 

In  an  attempt  to  make  restitution  for  this  enormous 
private  loss,  federal  and  state  governments  equally 
shared. 

Congress,  before  the  close  of  its  session  in  March  of 
that  year,  appropriated  $2,500,000  for  the  eradication 
of  that  disease  and  to  aid  in  paying  for  the  losses.  Ener- 
getic efforts  to  stamp  out  the  disease  were  immediately 
made  by  both  federal  and  state  officers.  Thus  with  tre- 
mendous energy  we  attack  our  favorite  pastime  of  lock- 
ing the  stable  door  after  the  horse  escapes. 

The  total  government  appropriations  for  the  Panama 

53 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Canal  from  1902  to  1917  were  $396,010,563.14.  The 
excavations  from  1904  to  1916  cost  $248,520,343.  Of 
this  total,  dry  excavations  cost  $130,378,364;  dredges, 
$118,141,979. 

During  the  fiscal  year  ending  June,  19 16,  the  total 
amount  expended  for  operation  and  maintenance  was 
$6,999,750.15,  more  than  half  of  that  amount,  or 
$3,513,350.06,  being  spent  for  dredging  in  the  Gaillard 
(formerly  Culebra)  Cut.  The  increased  cost  was  due 
to  the  slides  on  both  banks  of  the  canal  north  of  Gold 
and  Contractors  hills,  which  caused  the  suspension  of 
traffic  and  a  great  falling  off  in  the  tolls  collected  for  the 
year. 

The  total  loss  due  to  slides  in  the  canal  during  19 15 
and  1916  amounted  to  the  snug  sum  of  $7,089,933.09. 
These  are  official  canal  statistics. 

General  Goethals  is  authority  for  the  statement  that 
these  slides,  costing  the  government  millions,  never  would 
have  occurred  had  not  the  government  taken  the  word 
of  geologists  regarding  the  nature  of  sul>strata  in  the 
canal  zone.  General  Goethals'  exact  words  on  that  sub- 
ject were: 

The  W'hole  thing  might  have  been  obviated  had  we 
taken  borings  down  through  that  entire  area  for  a  mile 
on  either  side  of  the  canal,  and  determined  the  bearing 
strength  of  the  various  strata  of  rock  and  then  computed 
what  that  rock  would  have  to  bear  under  the  new  con- 
ditions when  the  chances  are  it  might  have  been  dis- 
covered. But  the  geologists  predicted  that  in  that  par- 
ticular locality  we  were  never  going  to  have  any  trouble 
so  that  I  presume  in  the  early  days  it  was  not  considered 
feasible  to  go  to  the  expense  that  that  would  entail. 

.■54 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

Naturally  slides  were  not  anticipated.  But  engineering 
science  demanded  that  borings  be  made.  Whatever  this 
would  have  cost,  it  certainly  would  be  a  small  fraction 
of  seven  million  dollars  and  the  end  is  not  yet.  If  ever 
we  are  to  learn  preparedness,  will  it  be  only  through  dev- 
astation, tragedy,  and  economic  loss?  These  will  most 
assuredly  be  our  portion.  Out  of  them  ultimately  will 
the  United  States  form  stalwart  national  character. 

In  1903  the  Iroquois  Theater  fire  in  Chicago  —  that 
terrible  holocaust  which  horrified  the  world  —  occurred 
at  a  matinee  during  the  holiday  week.  Within  half  an 
hour  after  the  first  cry  of  "  Fire,"  rang  through  the  build- 
ing, nearly  six  hundred  dead  were  heaped  in  the  galleries, 
mostly  women  and  children. 

Immediately  the  Chicago  City  Council  passed  drastic 
•ordinances.  Steel  curtains  and  sufficient  exits  properly 
lighted  were  demanded.  It  was  ordered  that  a  member 
of  the_Ek£,Iiepartment  be  stationed  in  each  theater  dur- 
ing a  performance.  More  than  half  a  thousand  lives 
were  snuffed  out  in  penalty  for  this  belated  precaution  — 
our  universal  tendency  of  preparedness  after  the  fact. 

The  burning  of  the  stearher  Slocum,  in  the  East  River, 
New  YoHc,  in  1904,  caused  a  loss  of  958  lives.  This 
terrible  calamity,  it  was  said,  was  largely  due  to  rotten 
cork  life  preservers  that  dragged  their  wearers  down. 
The  captain  of  the  ship  was  remanded  to  jail  for  crimi- 
nal carelessness  for  this  human  sacrifice  to  unprepared- 
ness.  The  lost  lives  could  not  be  restored  but  the  author- 
ities were  moved  to  stringent  and  immediate  action  for 
the  preservation  of  human  life  on  shipboard. 

After  the  Titanic  sank  with  its  human  freight  of  1,517 

55 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

in  April,  191 2,  the  federal  authorities,  in  our  hysterical 
fashion  of  reparation,  immediately  devised  laws  for  the 
regulation  of  steamships  in  respect  to  life-saving  de- 
vices, so  drastic  that  the  ordinary  vessel  could  not  pos- 
sibly comply,  with  their  terms.  So  many  lifeboats  and 
rafts  were  demanded  there  was  scarcely  deck  walking 
room  aboard  for  passengers.  Another  example  of  doing 
nothing  at  the  right  time  and  too  much  at  the  wrong 
time. 
Jaj.jj^a^  The  overturning  of  the  steamer  Eastland  in  the  Chi- 
j     T  cago  River,  which  cost  812  lives,  in  the  year  1915,  was 

Cn/w)jj^,     ^y^^^  jj-  jg  ^2i\d,  to  overcrowding  and  lack  of  proper  in- 
spection. "~"" 

The  list  mounts  up  but  this  volume  is  not  intended  to 
be  a  chamber  of  horrors  of  non-performance  of  public 
authorities  and  citizens  through  not  adopting  preventive 
instead  of  curative  means  for  safeguarding  lives  and 
money. 

These  examples  form  an  eloquent  plea  in  their  piti- 
fully mute  appeal  for  preparedness  instead  of  reparation. 
Preparation  can  be  had ;  reparation  is  impossible. 

The  total  loss  in  lives  and  property  in  this  series  of 
preventable  disasters  during  a  period  of  ten  years,  if 
computed,  woulcj  jar  the  United  States  into  realizing  that 
preparedness,  at  no  matter  what  the  cost,  is  cheap. 

In  the  field  of  city  planning,  a  notable  example  of  lack^ 
of  foresight  is  told  in  the  story  of  London  m  rejecting  the 
Wren   Plan'.      In"T666;~"after   the   disastrous   fire,    Sir 
Christopher  Wren  made  a  plan  for  rebuilding  London ; 
it  was  adopted  by  the  City  Council  but  never  carried  out. 

Nearly  two  hundred  years  later.  Baron  Haussmann 


('c^itTof    fort&i^U-V    pio.„^; 4f 


^   t^^^U,    ',  n 


'-  Nnr  mti"        '     '^-     /  n     /  /  t^/  /     ^  j.*t^vx.<^ 


Sir  Christopher  Wren,  the  famous  EngHsh  architect,  who  pre- 
pared a  plan  for  the  rebuilding  of  London  after  the  great 
fire  of  1666.    Wren's  plan  was  adopted  by  the  City 
Council   but,   to   the   great   detriment  of 
London,  was  never  carried  out. 


m 


^^tHS^'^'' 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

followed  the  Wren  Plan  as  the  basis  for  his  Plan  of  Paris. 
London  meanwhile  became  the  metropolis  of  the  world. 
Its  physical  development  was  a  topsy-turvy,  haphazard 
growth,  enmeshed  with  crooked,  narrow  streets,  in  a 
limited  area. 

Paris!  Why  describe  it?  The  world  knows  that  the 
Haussmann  Plan  made  Paris  the  most  beautiful,  health- 
ful, convenient,  and  prosperous  city  in  Christendom. 

The  sequel  to  the  lack  of  foresight  of  London  is  told 
in  the  recent  cutting  of  Kingsway  and  Aldwych  —  to 
connect  High  Holborn  with  the  Strand- — two  of  the 
busiest  commercial  arteries  in  the  city's  heart.  The  gross 
cost  was  $30,000,000.  London's  single  street  opening 
a  mile  long  and  one  hundred  feet  wide  cost  twelve  and 
one-half  per  cent  as  much  as  the  entire  Plan  of  Paris. 

The  authorities  at  Washington,  early  in  February, 
19 1 7,  were  face  to  face  with  Germany's  ultimatum  estab- 
lishing a  new  blockade.  This  announced  a  resumption  of 
her  submarine  warfare  on  merchantmen.  It  caused  to  be 
known  an  astounding  state  of  unpreparedness  in  our 
navy.  This  was  disclosed  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. 

At  this,  the  greatest  crisis  for  the  United  States  in 
the  first  two  years  of  the  world  war,  during  which  many 
similar  but  slightly  lesser  crises  had  confronted  our 
nation,  loud  talk  was  heard  on  many  sides  advocating 
severance  of  diplomatic,  relations  with  Germany. 

The  President's  aides  were  of  the  opinion  that  diplo- 
matic relations  should  be  severed  unless  Germany  should 
give  new  assurances  to  safeguard  the  lives  of  Americans 
in  the  maritime  war  zone. 

.S7 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY^ 

The  opinions  of  certain  powerful  newspapers  urged 
the  belief  that  at  last  the  moment  had  arrived  for  an 
ultimatum  to  Germany. 

During  the  excitement,  Congress  was  informed  that  of 
one  hundred  and  ten  ships  which  had  been  authorized  dur- 
ing the  previous  four  3'ears,  only  four  had  been  con- 
structed, although  Congress  ordered  sixty-seven  rushed. 
Eight  submarines,  it  was  stated,  which  had  l^een  author- 
ized under  the  previous  administration  were  unfinished. 
The  House  was  told  that  the  navy  was  short  twenty-four 
thousand  men ;  that  when  the  new  dreadnaught  Ari:;o}ia 
was  commissioned  shortly  before,  it  was  necessar}^  to 
retire  to  the  reserve  several  other  ships  in  order  to  make 
up  a  crew  for  it ;  and  that  more  than  fif t}-  per  cent  of  the 
tonnage  of  the  nav}-  was  at  that  moment  tied  up  at  the 
docks  for  lack  of  men.  The  statement  was  made  that  if 
war  came  to  the  United  States,  the  navy  w'ould  have  to 
go  into  battle  either  undermanned  or  manned  wnth  un- 
trained men  and  yet  the  secretary  and  officers  of  the  Navy 
Department  said:  "We  are  ready  to  go  into  batde." 

That  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  the  United 
States  declared  war  on  Germany.  What  has  happened 
since  is  known  to  the  whole  world.  The  United  States 
as  usual  has  performed  a  daring  and  brilliant  feat.  Xotli- 
ing  in  the  world's  history  can  compare  with  it,  but  never- 
theless it  stands  as  the  severest  indictment  of  our  unpre- 
paredness. 

Many  critics  have  endeavored  to  determine  the  respon- 
sibility for  our  pre-war  military  and  naval  unprepared- 
ness.  AMiile  it  is  wise  that  our  national  constitution 
gives  us  the  right  of  free  speech,  we  must  come  to  learn, 

S8 


OF  m 
UNIVERSITY  0!»  umo 


AMERICAN  CITIES'  NEEDS 

under  that  right,  the  difference  between  constructive  and 
destructive  criticism,  the  difference  between  lionest  ancT^ 
"unfair  or  dishonest  criticism.  All  criticism  is  dishonest 
when  it  takes  its  poisonous  darts  from  selfish  quivers.  It 
is  merely  stupid  criticism  when  it  aims  them  from  the 
bow  of  bias  and  prejudice,  although  it  may  be  none  the 
less  harmful. 

Our  national  isolation  and  traditional  peace  policy  in- 
fluenced us  as  a  people  into  believing  there  was  no  need 
for  a  big  navy  and  army.  We  have  learned  better,  but 
we  could  have  learned  sooner.  When  in  all  our  history 
have  our  people  been  willing  to  stand  for  military  pre- 
paredness in  times  of  peace?  Never.  Let  us  acknowledge 
our  fault  and  shoulder  our  share  of  the  blame  for  our 
lack  of  foresight. 

Unpr£.gar£4ij3ess,  from  time  immemorial,  has  been  a 
glaring  characteristic  of  our  people.  It  took  a  world's 
war  and  our  entry  into  it  to  teach  us  our  fault.  At  last, 
with  terribly  tragic  consequences,  we  have  come  out  of 
our  lethargy,  and  if  the  Great  War  produces  nothing  else 
than  a  lesson  lasting  and  final  on  "  Preparedness  "  not  only 
of  our  national  defense  but  of  all  things  that  affect  the 
welfare  of  the  people,  it  will  be  worth  all  the  billions  of 
dollars  and  the  scores  of  thousands  of  precious  lives  that 
have  been  given.  We  have  sadly  but  wisely  learned  that 
not  bluff  but  strength,  power,  money,  men,  and  material 
all  conscientiously  directed  to  a  given  end  will  accomplish 
that  end.  We  have  learned  that  our  victorious  troops 
icould  win  against  the  enemy  by  aid  of  these  and  these 
alone,  and  that  all  of  our  past  indifference,  carelessness, 
and  inertia  were  parasites  that  were  slowly  but  surely 

59 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

sapping  our  national  usefulness,  manhood,  and  character. 
li  the  nation  does  not  immediately  adopt  a  rational  sys- 
tem of  universal  training  and  service,  it  will  only  partially 
have  learned  the  great  and  terrible  lessons  which  the  war 
has  taught.  ^>^_XJy 

Before  the  war  "  bluffing  "  was  unknown  anywhere  in 
the  world  in  the  sense  it  was  attempted  in  America.  In 
the  "national  game,"  if  a  man  bluffs,  he  is  either  prepared 
to  kiss  his  pocketbook  good-bye  or  he  reasonabl}^  hopes 
to  put  the  bluff  over.  If  he  stays  in  the  game,  he  usually 
"holds  a  hand"  when  he  is  "called."  In  the  war,  the 
United  States  held  a  hand  and  bluffing  was  not  necessary, 
although  some  of  our  statesmen  apparently  believed  that 
the  great  conflict,  so  far  as  our  nation  was  concerned, 
could  be  settled  by  poker-playing  methods.  Bluffing  is  a 
dangerous  practice.  As  a  profession,  it  is  a  foolhardy 
pastime.  Wearing  an  air  of  confident  assurance  on  a 
"  poor  hand  "  in  an  attempt  to  deceive  an  opponent  and 
cause  him  to  "throw  down  his  hand"  is  foolhardy  when 
applied  to  national  affairs.  Before  the  war  the  United 
States  was  rapidly  crystallizing  into  a  nation  of  profes- 
sional bluffers.  Many  of  our  motives,  expressions,  and 
acts  were  derived  from  games  and  sports.  Outwardly 
there  was  "pep "  in  all  of  this  but  the  war  taught  us  that 
as  a  "clean-all,"  bluffing  could  be  regarded  only  as  a 
rank  failure. 

Never  again  in  the  history  of  our  nation  will  our 
national  character  rear  itself  upon  the  expletives  of  poker, 
baseball,  the  stock  exchange,  the  race  track,  and  football. 
We  have  learned  to  quit  bluffing  and  that  preparedness  is 
the  only  real  antidote. 

60 


CHAPTER  V 

HOW  TO  GO  ABOUT  CITY  PLANNING 

ASSUMING  it  is  universally  recognized  that  city 
planning  requires  a  scientific  plan,  financial  re- 
sources, and  an  organization  for  its  promotion,  two  ques- 
tions promptly  engage  our  attention.  First,  how  to  pro- 
ceed in  the  acquisition  of  these  things  and,  second,  hav- 
ing secured  them,  how  may  desired  results  be  obtained? 

Many  communities  inspired  with  a  desire  for  more 
attractive  physical  development  are  immediately  in  a 
quandary  concerning  the  best  manner  in  which  to  pro- 
ceed. Too  frequently  a  false  start  is  made  and  work  that 
otherwise  would  have  resulted  in  desired  accomplishment 
ends  merely  in  fine  reports,  much  agitation  and  ill-con- 
sidered sketches.  A  well-grounded  plan  of  operation, 
backed  by  wisdom  and  insistent  endeavor,  cannot  fail. 

Rarely  in  this  country  is  city  planning  work  initiated 
by  the  municipal  government.  Where  this  is  the  case  the 
highest  degree  of  success  is  not  attained.  The  best  results 
have  accrued  where  the  city  planning  movement  origin- 
ated with  a  group  of  substantial  public-spirited  citizens, 
or  under  the  auspices  of  commercial  or  civic  organiza- 
tions. The  reason  is  that  at  the  very  outset  adequate 
funds  must  be  available  for  technical  advice  and  for  the 
conduct  of  preliminary  work  to  the  end  that  public  senti- 
ment may  be  stirred.    Appropriations  by  city  administra- 

6i 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

tions  for  the  first  need  are  rarely  sufficient.  This  is  due 
to  the  fear  of  politicians  that  the  censure  of  the  commu- 
nity would  be  incurred  by  invading  new  and  untried 
fields.  Under  the  ordinary  power  of  a  city  for  making 
appropriations  for  corporate  purposes  the  second  need 
cannot  be  covered  at  all. 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  after  the  question  of  city 
planning  has  been  raised,  to  secure  an  adequate  fund 
either  by  contributions  from  citizens  or  by  appropriation 
from  a  civic  organization.  The  fund  in  hand,  there 
should  at  once  be  sought  the  services  of  a  city  planning 
expert.  No  attempt  at  city  planning  should  ever  be  made 
without  such  counsel. 

^An  expert  city  plan  once  evolved,  the  next  step  is  to 
create  public  sentiment,  and  when  that  is  aroused,  to 
secure  recognition  of  the  plan  by  municipal  authorities. 
The  obligation  of  the  sponsors  by  no  means  eiids  with  the 
mere  submission  of  the  plan  to  the  city  authorities.  Ac- 
companying their  appeal  there  should  be  a  well-thought- 
out  plan  of  organization  to  be  provided  for  b}-  city  ordi- 
nance. Until  the  time  when  city  planning  is  established  as 
a  city  department,  the  promotion  of  plan  work  should 
rest  with  a  properly  constituted  quasi-public  body.  When 
such  an  organization  has  been  authorized,  and  appointed 
by  the  mayor,  adequate  appropriation  should  be  made  by 
the  city  for  its  maintenance. 

City  planning  bodies  vary  in  name,  jurisdiction,  and 
official  recognition  in  various  communities.  There  are 
self-constituted  bodies,  so  to  speak,  and  those  created  by 
appointment  of  the  mayor  on  the  authority  of  the  City 
Council.    A  plan  body  appointed  under  city  authority  is 

62 


HOW  TO  GO  ABOUT  IT 

perhaps  best  named  the  "  Plan  Commission."  Its  organi- 
zation should  embody  all  elements  constituting  the  citi- 
zenship of  a  community;  the  mayor,  his  cabinet  heads, 
and  one  alderman  from  each  section  of  the  city  should  be 
ex-officio  members.  The  whole  commission,  under  the  ex- 
ecutive leadership  of  a  chairman,  a  vice-chairman,  and  a 
secretary,  should  in  the  remainder  be  composed  of  leading 
business  men,  representatives  of  all  professions,  vmion 
labor  leaders,  newspaper  publishers,  and  political  leaders 
of  all  factions.  The  church  of  all  faiths  should  be  repre- 
sented, and  especially  where  there  is  a  mixed  citizenship, 
all  nationalities  should  have  representation.  Such  a  com- 
mission should  be  absolutely  non-partisan  and  nonpoliti- 
cal,  but  political  faiths  should  have  recognition  in  ratio  to 
the  political  life  of  the  community,  and  especially  .should 
the  chairman  be  of  one  political  faith  and  the  vice-chair- 
man of  another.  This  method  of  organization  natu- 
rally should  vary  according  to  the  size  and  citizenry  of 
the  city.  The  work  of  the  Plan  Commission  should 
clear  through  an  executive  committee  typical  in  its  se- 
lection of  the  personnel  of  the  larger  body.  An  official 
headquarters  should  be  established  under  the  supervision 
of  a  director  of  works  to  seriously  carry  out  the  proj- 
ects initiated  by  the  commission. 

The  power  of  the  Plan  Commission  should  be  advisory 
and  not  executory,  and  it  should  act  at  all  times  as  the 
intermediary  between  the  city  authorities  and  the  people, 
and  as  a  safeguard  against  unwise  city  development. 

The  Plan  Commission  should  lend  its  first  endeavor  to 
the  study  of  the  Plan  committed  to  it  by  the  city.  That 
reasonably  accomplished,   it  should  next  recommend  a 

63 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

specific  phase  of  the  Plan  for  adoption  and  execution  by 
the  city. 

The  method  advocated  in  this  discussion  is  the  pro- 
cedure adopted  in  the  creation  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago 
by  The  Commercial  Club  of  Chicago,  under  the  direction 
of  Daniel  Hudson  Burnham,  and  in  the  later  organization 
of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission. 

The  experience  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission  as 
outlined  in  this  volume  it  is  hoped  may  contain  something 
of  value  to  other  communities,  insofar  at  least  as  it  justi- 
fies the  method  of  procedure  described  for  the  inception, 
adoption,  and  organization  of  city  planning  effort. 

Money  is  basic  in  city  planning. 

Without  MONEY  no  tangible  results  are  possible.  This 
applies  in  its  first  significance  to  city  planning  in  its  in- 
ception. 

Money  is  not  only  the  root — it  is  the  branches,  the 
leaves,  the  blossoms,  the  entire  tree  from  which  to  pluck 
the  fruit  of  city  planning  aspirations. 

For  success  in  America,  city  planning  must  be  divided 
into  three  main  divisions.  A  "  fourth  dimension "  we 
hope  later  to  indicate  as  a  future  potentiality. 

Pie  who  fails  to  proceed  from  this  hypothesis  will  fail 
to  get  anywhere  along  the  pathway  of  actual  accomplish- 
ment. The  shores  of  the  mighty  ocean  of  City  Planning 
are  lined  with  derelicts  wrecked  on  the  reefs  and  shoals 
of  mistaken  theory.  That  this  is  so  is  stupid  when  havens 
of  facts  are  so  easily  attained.  Right  at  this  point,  how- 
ever, is  where  the  practical  city  planning  mind  deserts 
the  Utopian  dreamer  —  he  whose  futile  energies  germi- 
nate largely  in  the  boundless  Saragossa  Sea  of  theory. 

'      .  64 


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Detroit.    Griswold  Street,  its  "  Wall  Street."    Detroit's  population 

ascended  like  a  skyrocket  from  261,693  in  1898  to  an 

altitude  of  603,993  in  1918. 


HOW  TO  GO  ABOUT  IT 

The  three  divisions  of  city  planning  properly  desig- 
nated   are  —  first,    financial — second,    technical  — 

third,   PROMOTIONAL. 

In  the  parlance  of  the  day  the  wag  would  nominate 
them  as  contribution,  evolution,  and  execution.  If 
our  "  fourth  dimension  "  is  to  have  a  future  place  it  could 
well  be  named  solution. 

Money  must  be  had  for  plans.  Plans  must  be  had 
for  promotional  work.  Promotional  warfare  must  be 
w'aged  before  public  opinion  can  be  had,  and  without 
public  opinion  officials  cannot  be  stirred  to  action. 

Each  of  these  steps  logically  and  in  order  takes  its 
place  in  the  successful  city  planning  program.  The  re- 
verse of  this  procedure  spells  disaster. 

Science,  like  nature's  laws,  cannot  be  reversed.  It  is 
just  as  possible  to  reverse  a  lawn  mower  and  attempt  to 
cut  grass  by  running  it  backwards,  as  it  is  to  attempt  city 
planning  by  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse. 

The  laws  of  many  states  restrict  municipal  authorities 
to  the  appropriation  of  funds  for  expert  service  only. 
Generally  the  statutes  do  not  permit  expenditures  for 
promotional  work.  City  planning  is  all  promotional  work 
in  its  inception. 

Reverse  the  order  of  delineation  and  grasp  these  facts 
from  a  different  angle. 

The  people  are  the  first  consideration  in  American  city 
planning.  Public  consent  can  be  had  only  after  a  compre- 
hensive and  far-reaching  educational  campaign  with  an 
idea  of  equal  benefit  to  all  elements  in  the  municipality. 

Before  comprehensive  plans  can  be  had,  experts  must 
be  engaged  and  then  what  do  we  encounter?    Money. 

65 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Money  in  the  beginning  must  be  secured  by  contribu- 
tion from  public-spirited  citizens.  Aside  from  these  facts 
financial,  the  best  origin  for  city  planning  is  in  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  the  citizens  of  the  community  and  not  in 
the  city  administration.  Because  this  truth  is  not  real- 
ized, city  planning  failures  are  everywhere  recorded. 
There  are  many  reasons  for  this,  but  without  too  careful 
an  analysis,  we  may  again  cite  money  as  the  leading 
factor. 

Municipal  authorities,  naturally,  will  not  appropriate 
sufficient  funds  for  the  inception  of  a  city  planning  move- 
ment, even  if  they  can  legally  do  so.  Fear  of  public  dis- 
favor of  a  too  generous  backing  of  an  untried  thing  will 
deter  them,  if  nothing  else.  Example  of  this  is  afforded 
in  a  city  of  half  a  million  people  where  the  appointment 
of  a  Plan  Commission  originated  in  the  City  Council. 
This  commission  was  given  an  insufficient  appropriation 
for  the  employment  of  experts  in  the  production  of  an 
actual  plan  and  nothing  for  its  promotion.  By  the  time 
an  ill-considered  plan  was  finished,  the  commission  was 
discouraged.  It  had  long  before  exhausted  its  funds  and 
had  accomplished  nothing,  because  the  support  of  the 
people  was  not  secured  as  the  necessary  first  step  to 
success. 

Another  example  is  recalled  of  a  city  of  nearly  a 
million  inhabitants,  wherein  the  state  laws  would  not 
permit  the  appropriation  of  funds  for  any  phase  of  city 
planning  work.  The  advocates  of  a  city  planning  move- 
ment there,  without  funds  and  without  prestige,  actually 
attempted  to  secure  an  enactment  from  the  state  legisla- 
ture to  enable  them  to  proceed.     Failure  was  again  re- 

66 


HOW  TO  GO  ABOUT  IT 

corded  because  it  was  not  realized  that  before  such  legisla- 
tion could  be  had,  public  opinion  would  have  to  be 
aroused.  This  well-meaning,  but  misguided  organiza- 
tion soon  went  into  oblivion  because  it  worked  back- 
wards. Infallible  proof  again  of  the  altogether  necessary 
and    almost    priceless    commodity    in    city    planning — 

FAVORABLE  PUBLIC  OPINION. 

Public  opinion  costs  money,  because  to  secure  it  re- 
quires education.  Educational  work  in  city  planning  is 
most  expensive  propaganda.  After  public  opinion  has 
been  secured,  city  planning  has  only  just  begun.  The 
Plan  Commission,  if  properly  recognized,  must  continue 
as  advisers  to  the  city  authorities.  The  maintenance  of 
such  work  requires  money.  That  is  where  perhaps  the 
original  subscriber  should  step  out  and  special  financial 
provision  should  step  in. 

It  is  not  reasonable  that  public-spirited  men,  in  addi- 
tion to  providing  the  funds  for  originating  and  promot- 
ing the  city  plan,  should  provide  also  maintenance  funds 
for  its  progressive  development. 

Neither  is  it  wise  to  anticipate  sufficient  funds  from 
city  appropriations  for  all  Plan  Commission  needs  after 
the  adoption  of  plan  work  by  the  municipality. 

Special  financial  means  eventually  must  be  provided. 

The  idea  of  a  city  planning  department  as  a  part  of 
the  city  government  has  been  advanced.  Under  such  an 
arrangement,  naturally,  ample  funds  could  be  provided 
from  city  sources. 

There  is  no  established  precedent  for  this  theory. 
Whether  at  any  stage  in  a  city  planning  program  a  city 
planning  department  would  be  a   desirable   feature  of 

67 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

municipal  government  is  debatable.  It  is  obvious  though 
that  no  new  department  can  be  established  in  any  city 
without  a  public  demand  for  it,  and  also  that  no  public 
demand  can  be  had  until  educational  work  has  created  it. 
To  create  the  demand  there  must  be  plans  ably  drawn  and 
vigorously  promoted.  The  only  way  those  essentials 
can  be  secured  is  by  raising  money  from  private  sources 
and  expending  it  in  the  manner  indicated. 

After  the  plans  have  been  created,  after  the  educational 
propaganda  has  been  waged,  and  after  something  tangible 
has  been  realized  to  prove  to  the  public  the  benefits  of 
city  planning  —  then  the  question  of  establishment  of  a 
city  planning  department  for  the  further  development  of 
the  plan  logically  may  be  considered.  Then  looms  up  the 
question  as  to  whether  or  not  it  is  desirable,  feasible, 
or  possible  for  the  people  of  a  city  to  adopt  officially  plans 
which  may  require  many  years  to  complete. 

Further,  as  each  part  of  the  basic  plan  is  developed,  cir- 
cumstances within  the  city  may  lead  to  changes  in  detail 
in  that  basic  plan  which  will  require  further  educational 
work.  A  street  which  may  have  been  laid  out  for  a 
boulevard  may  be  found,  when  the  time  for  its  develop- 
ment comes,  to  require  such  treatment  as  will  make  it  a 
business  street  for  heavy  traffic,  as  was  the  case  with 
Twelfth  Street  in  Chicago.  Changes  in  the  plan,  naturally 
require  educational  propaganda  and  it  is  extremely  doubt- 
ful whether  a  department  of  the  city  can  facilitate  that 
propaganda.  Therefore,  is  not  city  planning  a  thing 
apart,  to  be  kept  distinctive  from  city  government? 
Should  not  the  Plan  Commission  —  the  promotive  agent 
—  be  left  free  to  act  as  an  intermediary  between  the 

68 


HOW  TO  GO  ABOUT  IT 

people  and  tlie  city  authorities,  promoting  the  plan  with 
the  public  on  the  one  hand  and  with  the  city  officials  on 
the  other? 

It  may  be  too  strong  a  statement  to  make  that  the  death 
knell  of  city  planning  will  be  sounded  when  it  is  con- 
stituted a  department  of  city  government.  In  advancing 
the  idea  that  it  should  be  kept  distinct  from  the  city 
government,  it  is  recognized  that  no  rule  is  a  good  rule 
that  is  not  elastic  in  some  degree.  There  may  be  isolated 
instances  where,  under  a  favorable  condition  of  physical 
needs  and  of  statutory  enactments,  the  reverse  of  this 
reasoning  would  be  true. 

It  may  be  conceded  that  in  a  small  city  the  knowledge 
of  the  physical  needs  of  the  city  is  widespread.  The 
average  citizen  there  knows  what  his  city  requires.  In 
no  large  city,  however,  is  it  possible  for  the  average  citi- 
zen to  grasp  the  larger  needs  of  the  city  with  respect  to 
transportation,  recreation,  and  public  health.  It  is  only 
possible  to  advance  city  planning  in  large  cities  by  public 
education.  Such  work  can  always  best  be  done  by  a  semi- 
official organization  of  citizens  such  as  a  Plan  Commis- 
sion, and  in  the  inception  of  the  city  planning  movement, 
it  cannot  be  done  with  any  other  agency  or  in  any  other 
manner. 

Every  efficient  architect  and  engineer  realizes  that 
highly  skilled  technical  assistance  will  never  subordinate 
itself  to  the  rule  of  city  politics  or  civil  service  —  both 
necessary  in  the  establishment  and  successful  conduct  of 
any  city  department.  The  efficient  man  —  the  man  with 
the  initiative — the  specialist  on  city  planning — always 
works  best  where  he  has  a  free  hand. 

69 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Yes,  city  planning  as  a  branch  of  the  city  government 
might  succeed  if  every  city  could  produce  a  Charles 
H.  Wacker  to  lead.  Public-spirited  Trojans  like  Wacker, 
and  city  planning  specialists  of  experience  and  training 
are  not  logical  products  of  municipal  departments. 

Great  works  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  will  continue 
to  originate  in  and  be  fostered  by  the  hearts  and  minds  of 
public-spirited  citizens.  Welfare  work  for  the  people  is 
inspirational  and  philanthropic.  Always  will  this  be  the 
case  in  countries  where  there  is  no  power  conferred  by 
imperial  decree.  Such  power  at  least  augurs  something 
to  the  city  planning  advantage  for  people  in  absolute 
monarchies.  Through  the  maze  of  underbrush  incident 
to  procedure  in  this  country  and  through  all  the  discour- 
aging and  exasperating  delays  occasioned  by  cumbersome 
American  red-tape  and  conflicting  powers,  the  Plan  Com- 
mission— ^the  agent  of  the  people  and  of  public  spirit  for 
the  betterment  of  the  city  —  must  remain  stalwart  and 
progressive. 

As  indicative  of  the  vital  need  of  a  Plan  Commission 
in  preference  to  a  city  planning  department,  it  may  be 
cited  that  in  almost  every  city  where  extraordinary  im- 
provements are  contemplated,  it  is  usually  necessary  for 
the  city  officials  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  business  asso- 
ciations and  of  other  quasi-public  volunteer  organizations 
in  order  to  accomplish  their  aims,  such  as  bond  issues  and 
the  like,  These  arguments  and  these  reasons  are  not 
mere  results  of  theoretical  research.  They  are  based 
upon  absolute  contact  with  things  municipal,  the  result  of 
years  of  cold  experience,  gleaned  from  all  the  elements 
involved  in  city  planning  in  a  great  American  city. 

70 


HOW  TO  GO  ABOUT  IT 

The  purpose  of  this  discussion  is  to  show  that  city 
planning  in  America  can  best  originate  in  and  be  fostered 
by  a  quasi-public  body  acting  as  adviser  to  the  City 
Council  and  city  departments.  By  keeping  the  Plan 
Commission  free  from  the  city  government  it  is  in  a 
position  to  act  at  all  times  as  a  check  against  possible 
abuses  of  all  kinds  and  thus  it  is  likewise  in  a  position 
to  give  endorsement  and  encouragement  to  the  city  au- 
thorities when  that  is  desirable  from  a  strong  expert 
source. 

To  depreciate  the  willingness  of  city  authorities  to 
appropriate  as  generously  as  legally  can  be  done  for  city 
planning  work  is  not  the  intention  of  this  discussion.  In 
Chicago  the  Plan  Commission  has  received,  commen- 
surate with  the  statutes,  generous  financial  assistance 
from  the  city.  The  moneys  thus  had,  however,  and  used 
only  for  expert  technical  service,  totals  only  one-third  of 
the  sums  expended  in  originating  the  Plan  of  Chicago  and 
its  promotion,  all  subscribed  from  private  sources. 

The  Plan  of  Chicago,  if  aided  only  by  such  city 
appropriations  as  could  be  made  under  the  limitations  of 
the  statutes,  would  never  have  been  originated. 

In  logically  closing  the  subject,  "  How  to  Go  About 
City  Planning,"  we  now  give  consideration  to  the  fourth 
or  final  step  —  the  perpetuity  of  city  planning  effort. 
This  we  have  named  the  solution  of  the  city  planning 
problem. 

The  answer  is  endowment.    Why  not? 

What  more  noteworthy  humanitarian  endeavor  can 
there  possibly  be  than  making  the  cities  more  livable  for 
the  millions  constantly  swarming  to  them  ? 

71 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Benevolent  people  have  substantially  endowed  all  man- 
ner of  humanitarian  projects.  The  world's  work  has  been 
advanced  by  such  endowment.  City  planning  is  a  basic 
factor  in  all  philanthropic  movements.  Without  city 
planning  no  endeavor  toward  the  betterment  of  conditions 
in  cities  can  or  will  reach  the  high  notch  of  success  which 
may  be  achieved  with  the  assurance  of  a  properly  organ- 
ized, well-defined  plan  for  the  growth  of  the  city  and  its 
citizens.  Safeguarding  the  health  of  our  citizens  means 
safeguarding  the  nation's  greatest  asset.  Existing  en- 
dowments for  great  humanitarian  purposes  include  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation,  the  ,Rocke  feller  Fund,  the 
Carnegie  Fund  and  a  host  of  others.  Why  not  city 
planning  endowment? 

The  interest  on  a  donated  investment  of  three-quarters 
of  a  million  dollars  would  yield  a  sufficient  fund  for  the 
annual  maintenance  of  city  plan  work  in  the  largest  city. 
The  city  of  twenty-five  thousand  to  fifty  thousand  people 
could  maintain  its  work  on  the  investment  of  perhaps  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  needs  of  a  city  would 
naturally  correspond  with  its  size.  Whatever  its  size, 
each  city  could  produce  a  philanthropist  of  means  ample 
for  the  local  endowment. 

Such  endowments  could  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  a 
Board  of  Trustees,  this  board  to  direct  the  expenditure 
of  the  annual  income  and  eventually  invest  the  principal 
in  such  substantial  manner  as  would  perpetuate  the  don- 
or's meritorious  public  enterprise.  In  what  more  fitting 
manner  could  a  man,  while  conferring  lasting  benefits  of 
the  most  far-reaching  character  upon  a  grateful  public, 
perpetuate  his  own  name  ? 

72 


HOW  TO  GO  ABOUT  IT 

When  city  planning  history  is  written,  credit  should 
be  given  to  three  sources  —  the  public-spirited  men  who 
financially  backed  the  plan  in  its  inauguration,  the  techni- 
cal people  who  created  it,  and  the  promoters  who  de- 
veloped it:  There  is  a  vacant  niche  in  the  city  planning 
Hall  of  Fame  for  the  endower  who  assures  its  ultimate 
realization. 


73 


CHAPTER  VI  V 

ELEMENTS  TO  BE  HARNESSED 

EVERY  cit}''  has  its  distinctive  elements,  varying  in 
extent  and  variety  with  its  size,  geographical  loca- 
tion, and  the  nature  of  its  habitants.  These  are  com- 
plex in  some,  simple  in  others,  but  each  city  has  its  own 
.  problems  due  to  the  elements  it  may  harbor.  These 
must  be  neutralized  and  assimilated  in  the  successful  city 
planning  program. 

Harnessing  all  elements  and  making  them  energize  for 
his  success  is  a  prime  mission  of  the  city  planningjpro- 
moter.  Advancing  through  harmony  should  be  his  con- 
stant aim.  I  elsewhere  declared  that  the__d ty^  plann ing 
promoter  was  a  salesman  of  civilization.  He  is  many 
kinds  of  a  salesman,  but  he  is  primarily  a  harmon}^  sales- 
man. 

Sectionalism :  private  and  corporate  greed ;  religion ; 
tradition;  class  distinction;  political  factions;  labor 
unions ;  foreign  population ;  reformers ;  welf arers ;  civic, 
commercial,  and  social  organizations ;  woman  suffrage ; 
native  prejudice;  indifference,  and  technical  bias  —  all 
play  their  part  in  the  life  of  the  city.  These  must  be 
blended  into  a  harmonious  whole. 

What  may  be  encountered  in  a  single  city  is  demon- 
strated by  Chicago,  preeminent  in  its  multiplicity  of  ele- 
ments.   It  struggles  for  expansion  between  sectional  prej- 

74 


(U  ii^ 


ELEMENTS  TO  BE  HARNESSED 

uclice  and  private  selfishness.  The  north,  west,  and 
south  sides  are  geographically  divorced,  the  boundaries 
being  fixed  by  rivers,  railroads,  industrial  areas  and  lack 
of  street  connections.  The  interests  of  these  sections  are 
quite  as  local  as  those  of  Washington,  Philadelphia,  and 
Baltimore.  Although  much  civic  propaganda  is  neces- 
sary at  times,  these  three  entities  are  reasonably  harmoni- 
ous on  questions  of  policy  and  procedure  affecting  the 
whole  city.  Yet,  as  sections,  they  are  individual  and  dis- 
tinctive. The  law  of  self-preservation  would  instantly 
assert  itself  in  either  of  them  if  city  planning  discrimi- 
nation were  shown  in  the  distribution  of  public  improve- 
ments. 

Approval  must  come  from  all  the  people  if  public  im- 
provements are  to  be  financed  by  the  whole  city.  Under 
this  system  one  section  of  the  city  cannot  be  favored  to 
the  exclusion  of  another.  Sectionalism  is  an  important 
element..  It  must  be  studied,  met,  and  fairly  dealt  with. 

There  are  more  organizations  of  various  kinds  —  com- 
mercial, civic,  fraternal,  social,  and  religious  —  in  Chi- 
cago than  in  any  other  city  in  the  world. 

TTiej;digjousJife_of.the  city  plays  an  important  part. in 
its  activities,  with  varying  doctrines  and  creeds. 

Chicago  has  woman  suffrage — another  ingredient 
for  the  city  planning  caldron.        -^■-•-^, 

Chicago  is  the  political  forum  of  the  West.  It  has 
all  the  boasted  political  factions  of  any  community,  and 
then  some.  It  has  factions  within  factions,  and  does  not 
stop  even  there.         ''ojtf^ 

Chicago  has  twenty-two  local  governing  bodies  with 
taxing  power.     All  of  these  overlap  in  their  province 

75 


WHAT  OF  THE  CrfY? 

and  are  .distinctly  independent  in  their  powers  from  the 
city.  They  are  corporations  on  an  equahty  with  the  cor- 
poration of  the  municipahty  itself. 

Chicago  has  twenty-seven  separate  and  distinct  tnink 
lines  of  railroads.  Thirty-five  per  cent  of  the  city's  great 
throbbing  hub  of  commerce  is  occupied  by  railroad  prop- 
erty. "All  bound  'round"  with  steel  highways,  switch 
tracks,  and.  terminals,  the  Toop  cries  for  freedom,  hem- 
med in  on  three  sides  by  railroads  and  cut  off  by  the  lake 
on  the  fourth. 

Scarcely  any  procedure  is  possible  in  public  improve- 
ments, especially  street  improvements,  without  obligation 
on  the  part  of  the  city  to  deal  with  railroad  companies; 
The  first  street  widening  undertaken  in  the  Plan  of 
Chicago  required  the  cooperation  of  four  governing 
bodies  and  twelve  distinct  railroad  companies. 

Five-eighths  of  the  nearly  3,000,000  inhabitants  of 
Chicago  are  either  foreign  born  or  of  direct  foreign 
parentage.  Thirty-seven  nationalities  are  represented  in 
its  citizenship.  Chicago,  according  to  the  1910  census, 
had  265,948  Austrians  and  Hungarians.  This  is  a  larger 
population  than  any  city  in  Austria-Hungary  excepting 
the  capitals,  Vienna  and  Budapest. 

Chicago  has  501,832  Germans  —  more  than  half  as 
many  as  Hamburg,  Germany's  second  city,  and  one-sev- 
enth as  many  as  Berlin,  the  capital. 

There  are  one-quarter  as  many  Swedes  in  Chicago  as 
in  Stockholm,  the  capital  of  Sweden.  There  are  75,000 
Italians.  This  is  equal  to  one-eighth  the  population  of 
Naples,  Italy's  largest  city. 

Norway  is  here  with  47,235,  one-fifth  the  population 

76 


ELEMENTS  TO  BE  HARNESSED 

of  Christiania.  Ireland  is  represented  by  204,821,  one- 
half  the  population  of  Dublin,  the  Irish  capital. 

Twenty  thousand  Hollanders,  184,757  Russians, 
20,000  Danes,  65,000  English  and  7,000  French,  with 
all  the  other  foreign  population,  in  19 10  amounted  to 
1,693,918  residents  of  foreign  birth  or  direct  extraction. 

Truly^Chicago^js  a  '^melting  pot"  of  citizenship  and  a 
caldron  of  civilization.    The  Plan  Commission  is  a  cru- 


cible for  the  assimilation  of  all  these  elements. 

Harnessing  the  elements  in  certain  American  cities  is 
a  lawn  tennis  pastime  compared  to  Chicago's  task  as 
revealed  by  these  statistics.  Albeit,  on  that  score  I  declare 
the  cities  toughest  of  assimilation  are  the  so-called  "all- 
native-American"  cities.  I  will  take  my  chances  on  the 
"  melting  pot"  every  time. 

The  cities  of  nearly-native-American  population  are 
steeped  in  prejudice,  traditions,  and  class  distinctions. 
These  govern  to  the  extent  that  real  progress  of  any  sort 
is  like  the  old  arithmetical  problem:  "If  a  frog  in  a 
well  every  time  it  jumps  up  one  foot  slips  back  three, 
how  long  will  it  take  him  to  get  out  of  the  well  ?  " 

Although  Chicago  elementally  is  beset  with  nigre_com- 
plexities  than  any  other  American  city,  they  are  a  bless- 
irig  iiTHTsguise  —  not  a  handicap.  What  Chicago  is  sur- 
feited with  on  the  one  hand  she  makes  up  for  in  civic 
spirit  on  the  other.  It  is  Chicago's  "  I  Will "  spirit  which 
grips  the  world's  attention. 

The  hope  of  the  nation  lies  not  in  such  of  its  cities  as 
are  steeped  in  tradition,  and  rampant  in  class  distinction. 
It  rests  upon  and  forever  will  remain  vested  in  the  com- 
munities which  are  thoroughly  cosmopolitan. 

71 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Nearly  everybody's  failures  are  due  to  the  wrong  way 
of  proceeding.  Some  fail  through  sheer  carelessness; 
some  through  ignorance.  Ignorance  is  an  inexcusable 
negative,  which  only  in  small  part  can  be  charged  to 
inexperience.  Every  man  can  use  his  own  reasoning 
and  perceptive  faculties  in  deciding  the  right  way,  or  he 
can  use  those  of  another.  The  trouble  is  that  most  people 
act  upon  assumption.  Proceeding  on  assumption  is  like 
sliding  down  a  plank  fresh  from  a  coarse  buzz-saw  in  a 
gossamer  garment.  The  slow  and  painful  progress  is 
always  disastrous. 

Why  do  not  more  people  consult  others  about  what 
they  themselves  do  not  know?  Is  it  an  all-consuming 
conceit?  They  walk  right  into  things,  without  taking 
account  of  precedent,  human  events,  or  human  nature.  It 
is  easier  to  walk  in,  than  walk  out.  The  return  journey  is 
either  a  swift  slide  or  a  long  and  sudden  fall.  A  thud 
is  poor  compensation  in  front  of  a  goal. 

Wisdom  and  judgment  are  the  sundials  of  experience 
with  both  men  and  things. 

"  Fools  rush  in  where  wise  men  fear  to  tread  "  is  more 
true  of  private  individuals  and  citizen  bodies  dealing 
with  public  authorities  concerning  the  people's  welfare 
than  of  any  other  toboggan  of  ill-considered  approach. 

The  main  essentials  cgusi^in  educating  the  masses 
and  swmgii-ig~the"  city  authorities  into  \me.  TTTFmain 
thing  is  now?  That  now  is  the'^itbffiai'ine  wrecl<Tngof 
much  city  pTahning  endeavor. 

The  city  plan  prompter  rnust  make,  all  things  work 
together  for  good  as  he  sees  them.  His  job  is  to  steer 
his  course  safely  to  a  given  end.     Collision  in  the  fog 

78 


ELEMENTS  TO  BE  HARNESSED 

will  be  avoided  only  as  he  marks  the  channel  on  both 
sides  with  sirens  of  common  sense  and  good  judgment. 
His  pathway  must  be  made  easy  by  the  use  of  all  ele- 
ments. This  does  not  admit  of  the  rejection  of  any.  He 
will  not  sup  with  the  Pharisees  and  reject  the  Sadducees. 
He  will  assemble  all  elements  and  keep  them  together. 
Early  in  his  campaign  of  promotion  he  will  learn  the 
value  of  mixing  with  people  —  all  kinds  of  people.  He 
will  discover  their  viewpoints;  smoke  out  their  antag- 
onism; sift  their  peculiarities;  and  analyze  their  motives. 
Diplomatically,  deferentially,  and_j)ersua.siYel^_iie  will 
endeavorTo  swing  "alTTntq  line,  while  remaining„ateadr. 
fast  to  hi&  eause. 

Many  people  fail  in  their  tasks,  because  they  do  not 
meet  the  other  fellow  and  cultivate  his  acquaintance. 
This  they  seem  to  regard  as  of  no  value.  Conceit,  igno- 
rance, inexperience,  and _self -sufficiency  impel  them  to  iso- 
lation, and  a  lone-hand  course.  The  rest  of  the  world  — 
the  world  they  need  —  dwells  in  Mars,  Alaska,  or  Tim- 
buctoo  for  them,  but  never  in  the  arena  with  them. 

I  was  once  the  director  of  an  invading  party  of  forty 
business  men,  who  journeyed  through  the  southern  states 
on  a  trade  extension  mission  for  Chicago.  The  South 
was  rapidly  coming  into  its  own  —  its  natural  resources 
were  making  new  El  Dorados,  and  the  enormous  and 
constantly  growing  commerce  there  was  largely  headed 
for  New  York.  This  we  soon  found  was  due  to  condi- 
tions following  the  Civil  War.  The  South,  devastated, 
bleeding  and  all  but  dead,  sought  credit  where  it  could 
be  obtained.  Chicago,  then  a  young  city  of  struggling 
commercial  pioneers,  had  its  hands  full  to  keep  its  own 

79 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

footing.  Trade  expansion  she  desired,  but  sought  with 
necessary  precaution.  Chicago  could  not  extend  the  long- 
time credits  which  the  southern  merchants  ret^uired.  The 
New  York  merchants  accepted  their  long-time  paper,  dis- 
counted it  in  their  banks,  and  in  this  manner  established 
trade  relations  with  the  South,  An  association  devel- 
oped which  was  hard  to  eliminate. 

These  things  we  discussed  with  the  southern  merchants 
to  convince  them  Chicago  was  now  their  logical  market. 
The  balance  of  the  argument  we  knew  was  in  our  favor. 
How  to  advance  it  with  dignity  and  Avithout  offense  was 
a  hard  nut  to  crack.  It  developed  as  an  imaginary  nut 
in  the  second  or  third  city  we  visited.  In  this  place  nut 
crackers  appeared  at  a  reception  tendered  us.  A  white- 
haired,  old  merchant  arose  after  we  had  made  our  over- 
tures and  explained  our  mission  and  with  good  feeling, 
line  taste,  and  choice  common  sense,  said :  "  Why,  gen- 
tlemen, the  only  reason  we  don't  do  more  business  to- 
gether is  because  we  don't  know  each  other  better."  He 
was  right.  Our  entire  party  realized  it  before  he  fin- 
ished. Chicago,  he  showed,  was  trying  to  win  the  busi- 
ness of  the  South  by  very  infrequent  visits  of  its  repre- 
sentatives. New  York  houses,  he  argued,  kept  their  men 
there  continuously,  and  the  South  literally  swarmed  with 
them. 

"  The  reason  we  don't  do  more  business  together  is 
because  we  don't  know  each  other  better."  What  stimu- 
lating words !  How  truly  they  apply  wherever  men  and 
things  are  concerned. 

Failures  in  public  work  are  frequently  recorded  because 
acquaintance  with  people  and  facts  is  underrated  or  alto- 

80 


ELEMENTS  TO  BE  HARNESSED 

gether  misconceived.  Watch  the  so-called  "reformer." 
What  does  he  accomplish?  Precious  little.  Why?  Be- 
cause he  works  backwards.  Reformers  never  reform 
because  they  see  only  one  side — their  own.  They  have 
only  one  idea  —  the  single  viewpoint.  They  isolate  them- 
selves in  a  thick  atmosphere  of  personal  holiness.  Their 
vision  is  warped  and  prejudiced.  Holes  so  apparent 
through  the  thin  ice  warn  away  those  who  could  help 
them. 

Looking  at  all  sides  of  a  problem  is  the  only  way  to 
solve  it.  "Learn  it  not"  is  the  slogan  of  the  reformer. 
He  berates  and  fumes,  he  rants  and  he  analyzes,  he 
storms  and  he  demands,  he  threatens  and — stop,  did  you 
ever  hear  him  plead?  Perish  the  thought!  He  is  too 
busy  with  the  "I  am"  and  that's  fairly  haughty  and 
imperial  stuff.  Certain  kinds  of  reformers  are  the  hard- 
est to  swing  into  line  with  any  general  public  program. 
Their  business  is  to  condemn  everything  but  the  lime- 
light they  struggle  for. 

The  world's  workers  are  always  on  their  jobs,  while 
the  reformer  indulges  in  his  favorite  pastime  of  throw- 
ing a  monkey-wrench  into  the  works. 

What  has  all  this  to  do  with  city  planning? 

It  points  to  a  moral. 

Such  morals  are  good,  sound  straps  in  the  promotional 
harness  if  used. 

The  background  of  the  whole  harnessing  process  is 
the  people.  All  the  people — not  a  handful  of  powerful 
business  men,  nor  a  group  of  any  men,  nor  a  clique,  nor 
a  faction,  nor  a  section,  nor  any  religious  element  —  the 
whole  city  must  be  swung  into  line  with  all  its  elements. 

8i 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Exactly  as  a  business  executive  keeps  a  lever  on  his 
business  by  contact  with  his  patrons — feeling  the  pulse 
of  his  trade,  so  to  speak,  by  smoothing  differences  and 
settling  grievances  both  with  the  trade  and  employes  — 
so  does  the  successful  city  plan  promoter  meet  and  greet 
the  people  of  his  community. 

He  learns  what  is  wrong,  what  the  people  object  to 
in  his  plan  and  why ;  he  puts  to  rights  mistaken  notions ; 
straightens  out  misguided  citizens ;  pleads  with  stubborn 
ones;  and  irons  out  misapprehensions.  He  encounters 
the  long-haired  proselyte  of  sensationalism  who  can  find 
a  place  to  be  heard  only  in  a  public  forum  and  puts  him 
to  rout.  He  invites  opponents  of  the  Plan  to  meet  with 
him  in  friendly  spirit  and  discuss  differences.  He  inter- 
views public  ofificials  and  setks  the  support  of  the  press. 
He  goes  anywhere  any  time,  summer  or  winter,  night  or 
day,  to  present  his  plan.  He  waits  not  for  an  invitation, 
he  seeks  it.  He  lectures  and  talks,  he  thinks  and  writes 
—  in  a  word,  with  educated  enthusiasm  he  advances  his 
work  by  leveling  all  elements  in  his  pathway. 

The  Plan  Commission,  as  a  harmony  salesman,  must 
know  no  creeds,  no  doctrines,  no  isms,  no  ologies,  no 
factions,  no  caste,  no  prejudice,  no  faiths.  These  it  must 
neutralize  in  an  all-Chicago,  an  all-Boston,  an  all-Minne- 
apolis, an  all-New  Orleans,  an  all-Seattle,  an  all-Atlanta, 
an  all-Dallas,  or  an  all-any-other-city-in-America  issue. 


82 


CHAPTER  VII 

PUBLICITY 

IT  IS  a  wonderful  thing  to  inspire  people  and  move 
them  to  action. 

The  power  of  moral  suasion  is  the  expression  of  a 
fine  science. 

Half  the  pleasure  in  success  consists  in  knowing  just 
how  it  has  been  accomplished. 

Some  people  speak  of  the  "soul  power"  which  gives 
its  possessor  some  measure  of  control  over  others,  as  in 
the  case  of  ministers  and  missionary  workers  who  are 
practically  masters  of  obstinate  communities.  Others 
describe  this  as  "psychic  force."  The  important  thing  is 
not  so  much  the  name  given  to  such  an  agency  as  the  fact 
that  it  endows  a  man  to  make  others  see  and  accept  his 
point  of  view  as  their  own. 

The  power  to  move  people  does  not  create  itself.  Hard 
and  thoughtful  work  is  necessary  to  produce  it.  Neither 
does  this  force  succeed  when  it  is  of  the  so-called  "press 
agent"  variety. 

There  must  be  something  to  carry  on.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  create  anything  permanent  out  of  superficial  knowl- 
edge and  sensational  methods.  That  this  fact  is  compre- 
hended so  slightly  is  the  reason  of  many  failures.  The 
mover  of  others  must  have  it  in  him  to  move.  This  he 
cannot  acquire  by  the  "once-over"  brand  of  effort. 

83 


WHAT  01^^  THE  CITY? 

Then  those  whom  it  is  desired  to  move  must  be  made 
to  know  what  the  moving  is  all  about. 

That  is  where  the  third  factor  steps  in,  which  logically 
should  precede  the  others.  It  is  —  something  worth  being 
moved  about.  If  a  thing  is  not  worthy  of  the  effort,  it 
will  collapse  before  it  reaches  the  first  turn  in  the  journey. 
If  the  mover  does  not  understand  what  it  is  he  is  trying 
to  move  and  what  is  necessary  to  move  it,  he  will  crumple 
up  before  reaching  the  first  milestone. 

"  Elementary  stuff,"  someone  exclaims.  "  Why  the 
primer?" 

There  can  be  only  two  good  reasons  for  being  ele- 
mentary in  discussing  publicity  as  the  greatest  leverage 
in  city  planning  achievement.  They  are  —  first,  of  the 
nearly  two  hundred  cities  in  the  United  States'  that  have 
attempted  city  planning,  not  a  dozen  have  made  any  real 
progress.  Second,  the  fundamental  value  of  promotion 
in  city  planning  is  either  not  recognized  at  all,  or  shows 
only  the  faintest  conception  of  its  requirements. 

Hundreds  of  articles  on  city  planning — mostly  by 
technicians  —  have  come  to  my  notice.  These  all  treated 
the  subject  in  a  "  learned  "  manner,  but  not  one  word  did 
they  contain  about  how  to  do  the  thing.  Periodicals 
are  published  solely  to  advance  civic  work  in  its  relation 
to  city  planning,  but  they  altogether  ignore  promotional 
science  as  a  factor  in  accomplishment.  Books  have  been 
written,  but  all  fail  to  advocate  the  necessity  of  right 
educational  methods  and  provide  nothing  of  promotive 
need. 

This  is  either  stupidity,  ignorance,  or  superficiality. 
Sometimes  it  is  jealousy. 

84 


PUBLICITY 

At  the  request  of  the  editor,  I  wrote  an  article  for  a 
prominent  New  York  journal  touching  on  this  subject. 
Being  a  sensible  man,  also  a  fair  one  to  his  profession, 
he  urged  me  to,  "  touch  them  up  a  little,"  supplement- 
ing this  with,  "go  after  them  hard."  After  the  article 
was  printed  he  wrote :  "  Nothing  this  journal  has  ever 
presented  on  the  subject  of  city  planning  has  created  such 
a  furore  and  aroused  so  much  interest,  but  it  will  do  them 
good." 

When  the  Plan  of  Chicago  was  ready  to  go  to  the 
public  —  after  the  first  simultaneous  publication  of  some 
of  the  main  essentials  with  drawings  in  the  Sunday  sup- 
plements of  each  of  the  Chicago  papers  (noteworthy 
publicity,"  by  the  way) — Charles  H.  Wacker,  head  of 
the  Plan  Commission,  said  to  me :  "  Establish  the  Plan 
of  Chicago  with  the  people.  That  is  the  first  big  thing 
to  do." 

Naturally  the  sort  of  propaganda  necessary  in  advanc- 
ing the  purposes  and  benefits  of  a  city  plan  depends 
somewhat  upon  the  extent  of  the  plan  and  the  size  of  the 
city.  If  the  plan  is  limited  or  fragmentary,  educational 
propaganda  may  be  fitted  to  suit.  But  if  a  comprehen- 
sive plan  for  a  whole  city  of  size  is  proposed,  in  which 
each  feature  is  a  component  part  of  a  whole,  a  plan 
requiring  years  for  its  accomplishment  while  advancing 
a  step  at  a  time  —  then  continuous,  varied,  and  far-reach- 
ing propaganda  is  essential. 

The  whole  plan  must  be  made  known  to  the  people 
from  the  start.  This  cannot  be  done  in  a  single  report 
issued  to  the  authorities  and  a  limited  group  of  influen- 
tial citizens.     Constantly  and  insistently  must  the  Plan 

8.S 


'     WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

be  carried  to  the  people  in  all  sections  of  the  city.  Various 
means  of  introduction  must  be  employed.  When  the 
ground  has  thus  been  made  fallow,  and  a  specific  feature 
of  the  Plan  is  recommended  for  accomplishment,  a  short 
but  intensive  campaign  for  its  realization  must  be  waged. 

The  newspapers  always  are  the  most  valuable  medium 
for  this,  and  fortunate  is  the  city  planner  who  never  for- 
gets that  the  newspaper  publishers  may  be  his  best 
friends.  Publishers,  editors,  reporters,  feature  waiters, 
and  cartoonists  are  ordinary  human  beings  like  all  other 
citizens,  and  must  be  treated  in  the  same  manner  as 
others  with  the  welfare  of  their  city  at  heart.  A  square 
deal  all  around  is  the  sensible  course  and  invariably 
brings  results. 

I  once  went  to  lecture  in  a  large  city  that  boasted  much 
of  its  city  planning  endeavor.  After  a  survey  of  the  sit- 
uation on  my  arrival,  I  abandoned  my  plan  for  a  set 
lecture  and  instead  of  formally  taking  the  platform, 
stepped  out  on  the  main  floor  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
audience  and  talked  earnestly  and  informally  of  the  im- 
pressions I  had  received.  Suddenly  I  shouted  out,  "  You 
will  not  get  anywhere,  you  are  not  started  right."  The 
next  morning  the  leading,  oldest,  and  most  conservative 
daily  paper  in  that  city  had  a  three-quarter  column  story 
of  the  meeting  on  the  front  page.  But  that  is  not  what 
was  important;  it  will  come.  Certain  citizens,  including 
those  who  extended  the  invitation  to  me,  were  provoked 
beyond  measure.  The  paper  had  used  my  admonitory 
shot  as  headlines  to  this  story.  A  group  of  leading  busi- 
ness men  who  for  some  reason  were  not  identified  with 
the  city  planning  crowd,  told  me  it  was  the  first  time  city 

86 


PUBLICITY 

planning  in  that  city,  after  twenty  years  of  hit-and-miss 
effort,  had  been  on  the  front  page  of  any  paper.  They 
said,  "  Oh,  if  you  had  only  come  to  us  first  we  would 
have  fixed  you  up  so  that  you  could  have  hit  them  even 
harder  than  you  did." 

Imagine  city  planning  for  twenty  years  and  none  of  it 
worth  enough  to  get  on  the  front  page  of  a  newspaper. 
There  is  only  one  answer  —  while  the  plans  may  have 
been  all  right,  may,  I  say,  something  was  radically  wrong 
with  the  attempt  to  carry  them  out.  No  one  can  more 
quickly  see  the  faults  of  procedure  than  newspaper  men. 
Their  vast  experience  in  dealing  with  current  events 
makes  them  experts,  with  quick  insight  into  weakness, 
superficiality,  or  wrong  methods  of  any  proposition.  Wise 
is  the  city  planner  who,  instead  of  acting  on  his  own  lim- 
ited experience,  seeks  first  of  all  the  advice  of  the  news- 
paper men  and  invites  their  cooperation.  Much,  of 
course,  depends  upon  the  plan  itself  —  whether  it  is  a 
sound  one  worked  out  by  able  experts,  commending  itself 
to  the  solid  business  men  of  the  community,  city-wide  in 
its  benefits,  or  whether  it  is  unsound  or  devised  solely  in 
the  interests  of  a  class  or  a  clique.  If  the  latter,  it  is 
essentially  not  the  mission  of  the  press  to  support  it. 

Next  to  the  plan  itself  being  all  right  are  the  men  who 
are  behind  it.  If  they  are  men  who,  because  of  their 
reputation,  stand  for  something  worth  while,  men  who 
have  no  axes  to  grind,  men  of  stability,  wisdom,  and  un- 
selfishness, the  way  to  the  press  is  manifestly  easier. 

Although  the  plan  be  all  right,  and  the  backers  all 
right,  still  newspaper  men  have  to  be  convinced  of  these 
things.     They  cannot  be  expected  to   take   things   for 

87 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

granted  any  more  than  the  city  planner,  and  he  should 
take  nothing  for  granted.  Above  all,  newspaper  men  are 
not  mysterious;  they  are  neither  sorcerers  nor  seers. 
Their  sympathy  and  support  must  be  sought  and  may 
be  secured  the  same  as  that  of  any  other  citizen. 

H  the  city  planner  will  go  to  the  heads  of  the  news- 
papers when  he  has  something  important  to  advance  pub- 
licly;  if  he  will  be  patient  until  he  can  secure  a  convenient 
audience;  if  he  will  then  frankly  and  freely  state  his 
proposition,  thus :  "  The  situation  is  this  —  unless  we  can 
be  assured  of  your  support,  we  may  as  well  stop  before 
we  begin ;  our  hands  will  be  tied ;  we  can  do  nothing 
without  your  help;"  if  he  believes  that  to  be  the  truth 
and  adheres  to  it;  if  his  plan  is  right  and  the  public 
interest  will  be  served  by  its  accomplishment;  I  say  if 
he  will  go  in  that  way  and  on  such  a  platform,  he  assur- 
edly will  have  the  support  of  the  press.  He  must  know, 
too,  that  public  conditions  are  right  for  the  advancement 
of  his  plan  when  he  wants  to  launch  it.  Bob  Bundett 
once  aptly  said :  "  Never  solicit  a  woman  for  foreign 
missions  when  her  baby  just  swallowed  a  button  and  her 
pot  roast  is  burning  on  the  kitchen  stove."  This  gospel 
is  as  good  for  city  planners  as  it  is  for  foreign  missions. 

Every  person  who  has  been  charged  with  the  advancing 
of  public  projects  doubtless  at  times  has  been  dismayed 
by  the  seeming  lack  of  generosity  of  the  press  in  accepting 
his  statements  for  publication.  A  couple  of  paragraphs 
would  perhaps  appear  when  he  fervently  hoped  for  a 
couple  of  columns.  H  his  eager  scrutiny  failed  to  dis- 
cover anvthing  in  the  issues  in  which  he  confidently  ex- 
pected big  publicity,  then  chagrin,  disappointment,  and 


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even  disgust  occupied  his  thoughts.  "  Why."  he  may 
exclaim,  and  ask  in  the  same  breath,  "  will  a  great  news- 
paper of  twenty  or  twenty-five  pages,  supposedly  devoted 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  public,  ignore  a  message  to 
the  people  on  so  vitally  important  a  matter,  but  run  an 
entire  page  of  nauseating  scandal?" 

I  have  wondered  at  this  myself,  but  have  ceased  to  be 
dismayed  —  sometimes  disappointed,  of  course  —  but 
now  disposed  to  be  more  reasonable  than  in  times  of  less 
ripened  experience  and,  on  the  whole,  grateful  for  gen- 
erous treatment  when  reviewing  the  amount  of  space  the 
papers  have  in  reality  devoted  to  the  work  in  which  I 
have  been  interested. 

I  hold  no  brief  to  speak  for  the  press,  but  when  it  is 
realized  that  every  day  in  the  year  the  average  metro- 
politan newspaper  discards  -ten  times  as  much  "  stuff " 
as  it  prints,  it  is  not  surprising  that  some  worthy  matter 
goes  to  the  basket  and  not  to  the  "  make-up  "  stone. 

A  big  daily  is  a  tremendously  busy  and  fascinating 
enterprise.  The  wonder  is  that  it  prints  so  much  of  real 
news,  special  articles  not  necessarily  news,  feature  stories, 
comic  stuff,  editorials,  and  cartoons;  and  every  twenty- 
four  hours  each  regular  issue  is  entirely  different  from 
the  one  before. 

Like  the  United  States  mail  delivery,  working  with 
ceaseless  activity  and  almost  unfailing  accuracy,  the  won- 
der is  that  a  daily  newspaper  relatively  makes  so  few 
mistakes  in  hastily  gathering  and  printing  the  news  of 
the  world. 

Men  have  been  heard  to  rail  at  misquotations  and  also 
what   they   termed   "the   pul)lication   of   violated   confi- 

80 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

« 

dence."  Men  who  love  to  talk,  and  who  are  not  always 
careful  how  they  talk  or  what  they  talk  about,  usually 
complain  the  most  of  not  receiving  a  square  deal.  Their 
own  egotism,  idiosyncrasies,  prejudices,  animosities,  and 
personal  aggrandizement  are  generally  the  reason  in  such 
cases.  Newspapers  give  a  wide  berth  and  short  shrift  to 
those  who  are  afflicted  with  these  maladies.  The  best 
diagnosticians  of  human  weakness  in  any  form  are  news- 
paper men. 

Eleven  years  of  public  work  in  dealing  with  the  press 
finds  me  without  a  single  axe  to  grind  and  free  from 
fault-finding  of  any  unfair  dealing.  In  their  stead  I  have 
only  a  profound  respect  for  the  power  of  the  press  as  the 
greatest  medium  in  current  educational  matters  of  true 
worth. 

The  trouble  is  that  many  men  live  so  close  to  their  own 
jobs  that  they  fail  to  see  the  other  fellow's.  Somehow 
they  come  to  feel  that  if  their  own  sphere  is  recognized, 
nothing  else  matters. 

The  business  of  a  newspaper  is  to  print  the  news  every 
day  for  all  the  people.  In  the  make-up  of  the  paper  it  is 
the  purpose  of  the  publishers  to  print  such  feature  articles 
and  editorial  contributions  as  they  believe  will  appeal  to 
the  general  fancy.  In  this  respect  a  newspaper  is  some- 
thing like  a  moving  picture  theater.  Regular  attendants 
at  the  movies  frequently  wonder  why  certain  reels  are 
shown  that  could  not  possibly  appeal  to  a  seeker  after 
real  dramatic  production.  These  forget  that  all  classes 
of  people,  including  children,  attend  the  movies.  An 
article  appearing  in  a  newspaper  which  does  not  appeal  to 
one  person  may  find  a  ready  reader  in  another. 

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It  is  the  very  great  misfortune  of  some  cities  not  to 
have  the  hearty  cooperation  of  their  newspapers  in  mat- 
ters of  local  need.  While  these  may  not  oppose,  they  do 
not  exert  themselves  to  assist.  This  complaint  has  been 
made  to  me  many  times  by  leaders  of  civic  work  in  other 
cities.  On  investigation  it  was  discovered  that  the  fault 
did  not  always  lie  with  the  newspapers  but  with  the  work- 
ers themselves  in  not  cooperating  intelligently  with  the 
papers. 

Chicago's  greatest  civic  asset  is  its  great  daily  news- 
papers. These,  without  exception  —  partisan  and  non- 
partisan—  blend  and  lift  their  voices  for  the  welfare 
work  of  Chicago.  They  are  the  initial  influence  in  civic 
advance  and  they  make  an  issue  of  those  things  which 
spell  the  best  good  of  the  community. 

When  the  chairman  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission 
said,  "  Establish  the  Plan  of  Chicago  with  the  people," 
the  perplexing  question  immediately  arose,  "  How  start 
to  do  this  to  the  best  advantage?"  The  resources  of  the 
commission  were  limited.  Obviously  a  large  fund  would 
have  to  be  raised.  That  being  the  first  step,  the  members 
of  The  Commercial  Club  (one  hundred  in  all)  were  ap- 
pealed to.  In  a  few  weeks  nearly  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  were  pledged  by  these  public-spirited  men.  They 
were  willing  to  back  with  their  own  money  the  Plan  they 
had  assisted  in  creating.  Already  this  small  group  of  the 
city's  foremost  business  leaders  had  contributed  eighty- 
five  thousand  dollars  for  working  quarters,  minor  techni- 
cal service  and  the  publication  of  the  report, on  the  Plan 
of  Chicago.  The  latter  was  in  the  form  of  a  beautiful 
octaro   volume  —  the  very  finest   example   of   printers' 

91 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

craftsmanship.  It  contained  one  hundred  and  sixty-four 
pages,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  drawings,  charts 
and  pictures,  inckiding  fifteen  full-page,  six-color  draw- 
ings painted  by  the  famous  artist,  Jules  Guerin.  There 
were  other  full-page  sketches  in  rich  tints,  besides  many 
smaller  illustrations  in  colors,  and  an  index  list  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-four  subjects. 

Dignified  and  inspiring,  written  in  the  choicest  lan- 
guage and  technical  phraseology,  this  book  was  suggestive 
of  the  Plan  proposals  rather  than  definite  in  its  recom- 
mendations. It  was  immediately  acclaimed  by  experts 
the  world  over  to  be  the  most  beautiful  and  comprehen- 
sive study  on  city  planning  ever  produced.  It  was  quickly 
realized,  however,  that  progress  on  the  Plan  could  be 
made  only  by  taking  up  one  project  at  a  time  —  a  task 
of  piecemeal  accomplishment. 

Simultaneously  it  was  apparent  that  a  volume  of  such 
magnitude  —  even  though  an  important  contribution  to 
the  nation's  best  libraries  and  municipal  archives  —  was 
entirely  unsuited  for  popular  propaganda  work.  Its  price 
was  prohibitive  —  twenty-five  dollars  per  volume  —  and  a 
limited  edition  of  only  two  thousand  copies  of  this  report 
was  printed. 

During  the  interval  of  more  than  a  year  between  its 
presentation  to  the  city  authorities  as  a  gift  to  the  people 
of  Chicago,  and  the  appointment  of  the  Chicago  Plan 
Commission,  to  which  it  was  committed  for  study  and 
promotion,  scores  of  periodicals  and  newspapers  through- 
out the  land  published  extracts  from  the  Chicago  Plan 
report. 

These  were  supplemented  by  full-page  and,  in  some 

92 


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I 


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instances,  double-page  feature  stories  in  each  of  the  daily- 
papers  in  Chicago. 

Then  came  the  lull  and  the  reaction.  Talk  of  the  great 
Plan  was  indulged  in,  sporadic  reference  to  it  was  made 
in  the  press ;  agitators  who  opposed  the  general  idea  began 
to  make  themselves  heard ;  and  many  gibes  were  made  at 
the  Plan.  The  most  Utopian  features  of  the  Plan  — 
those  ideals  which  proposed  benefits  requiring  a  lifetime 
to  realize  —  improvements  that  could  only  be  accom- 
plished in  the  remote  future  —  were  singled  out  for 
attack.  In  short,  rumblings  of  the  malcontents  and  the 
misguided  were  heard  and  therfe  was  danger  that  the 
whole  Plan  —  with  present  dire  needs  and  future  better- 
ments—  was  in  a  fair  way  to  go  to  pieces,  or  receive  a 
rude  shock  on  the  rock  of  dissension  and  misappre- 
hension. 

Dangers  of  this  character  confront  every  worthy  plan 
at  its  inception.  A  sane  and  sound  plan  made  in  the 
interests  of  all  the  people  is  always  bound  to  survive  such 
storms.    The  Plan  of  Chicago  survives. 

It  was  known  as  "Chicago  Beautiful"  before  its  more 
practical  name,  "The  Plan  of  Chicago,"  was  officially 
adopted.  The  "Chicago  Beautiful"  cognomen  gained 
wide  notoriety  and  likewise  developed  much  misappre- 
hension. This  added  to  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome  by 
the  Plan  Commission.  Agitators  against  the  Plan  quickly 
fastened  onto  the  phrase  "beautiful"  and  hurled  sharp 
barbs  of  criticism  at  the  Plan,  which  they  designated  as, 
"  Beautiful  but  not  practical." 

It  is  astonishing  how  much  mischief  can  be  done  by 
an  unfortunate  selection  of  a  name.     This  always  ends 

93 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

in  doubt,  confusion,  and  misnomer.  It  appeared  that  onh- 
an  act  of  Providence  could  span  in  the  pubhc  mind  the 
seeming  chasm  between  the  ideals  in  the  Plan  and  their 
practical  furtherance  in  face  of  the  wretched  physical 
disorder  extant  throughout  the  city.  Perceiving  this,  the 
foes  of  the  Plan  satirically  called  it  "  An  Idle  Dream,'^ 
"  A  Picture  Plan,"  and  "  A  Talk  Plan." 

At  this  point  the  Plan  Commission  took  up  its  work. 
^^'^isely  it  determined  that  the  people  should  be  "shown" 
by  starting  on  a  single  improvement  in  the  worst  dis- 
trict. Twelfth  Street,  crossing  the  most  congested  part 
of  the  west  side,  v^^as  selected  for  this  beginning.  This 
section  line  thoroughfare  runs  through  a  vast  railroad 
industrial  sector  and  is  flanked  by  a  mixed  foreign  popu- 
lation in  its  commercial  and  residential  area,  but  it  is 
basically  one  of  the  most  important  streets  in  Chicago  and 
of  the  greatest  strategic  significance  in  the  Plan  of  Chi- 
cago. Albeit,  many  people  in  more  remote  parts  of  the 
city  were  scarcely  aware  of  its  existence,  and  even  less 
did  they  appreciate  its  importance,  one  way  or  another. 
But  shortly  it  was  destined  to  blossom  into  great  promi- 
nence. Within  a  year  after  the  Plan  Commission  began 
its  city-wide  educational  work,  and  while  the  agitators 
w^ere  in  supreme  possession  of  their  early  strength,  the 
ordinance  for  a  public  bond  issue  to  pay  the  city's  share 
of  the  cost  of  this  improvement  was  passed  by  a  referen- 
dum vote  of  all  the  people,  which  gave  to  the  measure  a 
majority  of  twenty-one  thousand  votes. 

This  order,  produced  out  of  chaos,  was  the  direct  result 
of  a  well-planned  and  far-reaching  publicity  campaign. 
The  first  move  in  this  direction  was  a  small  book.     One 

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hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  copies  were  issued  and 
distributed  at  a  cost  of  eighteen  thousand  dollars.  These 
were  delivered  to  every  property  owner  in  the  city  and 
to  persons  paying  a  rental  of  twenty-five  dollars  per 
month  and  over. 

The  basis  of  this  publication  was  the  de  luxe  Chicago 
Plan  book  issued  by  The  Commercial  Club.  Many  of  the 
drawings  of  the  parent  book  were  adapted  to  the  smaller 
one.  This  booklet  was  entitled,  Chicago's  Greatest  Issue 
—  An  Official  Plan.  Its  ninety-three  pages  —  carrying 
the  three  hundred  and  twenty-eight  names  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  commission,  representing  every  walk  of  life 
in  the  city  —  told  the  story  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago  to  all 
the  people  in  simple,  easily  comprehended  everyday  lan- 
guage. 

First,  it  was  shown  that  Chicago  belonged  to  all  the 
people,  that  the  public  property  at  that  time  was  worth 
four  hundred  and  twenty  million  dollars,  and  it  was 
aimed  to  impress  upon  the  average  man  his  financial  and 
personal  responsibility  in  the  welfare  of  Chicago.  Then 
there  was  told  the  creation  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago  and, 
feature  by  feature,  chapter  by  chapter,  there  was  argued 
to  the  citizenry  of  Chicago  the  sanity  and  the  wisdom 
of  the  Plan.  One  good  stroke  begets  another.  Columns 
of  matter  descriptive  of  this  booklet  appeared  in  the  Chi- 
cago press.  Thus  a  second  large  and  valuable  amount 
of  publicity  was  secured.  The  newspaper  attention  re- 
sulting was  a  measure  of  the  influence  of  the  booklet  and 
was  as  far-reaching  as  the  booklet. 

Chicago's  Greatest  Issue  was  sent  on  request  all  over 
the  civilized  world.     Other  Plan  projects  quickly  fol- 

95 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

lowed  in  the  wake  of  the  Twelfth  Street  improvement 
and  the  piibhcity  campaign  kept  pace  with  or  was  always 
ahead  of  these, 

An  invaluable  aid  in  the  people's  vote  on  the  Twelfth 
Street  improvement  was  the  school  textbook,  Wacker's 
Manual  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  This  came  as  an  inspira- 
tion. It  was  the  direct  result  of  the  admonition:  "Es- 
tablish the  Plan  of  Chicago  with  the  people." 

The  idea  for  a  school  book  was  conceived  through  con- 
centration on  three  words  —  "  Establish  the  Plan."  Con- 
centration is  the  keynote  of  success  in  many  things,  but 
greater  than  that  is  the  value  of  an  idea  upon  which  to 
focus.  Ideas  for  city  planning  publicity  are  worth  every- 
thing and  it  pays  one  to  search  for  them.  This  one  came 
without  searching,  as  a  result  of  the  suggestion  from  the 
always  fertile  brain  of  the  chairman  of  the  commission  — 
"Establish  the  Plan."  I  have  ever  felt  that  the  greatest 
possible  distinction  was  due  to  the  source  of  that  idea. 
That  is  why  the  school  book,  of  which  I  am  the  author, 
was  named  Wacker's  Manual  after  the  chairman. 

Then,  too,  I  realized  that  the  chairman  needed  to  be 
established  cjuite  as  much  as  the  Plan  he  was  charged 
with  promoting.  It  was  clear  to  me  that  the  people  —  all 
the  people  —  should  come  to  know  intimately  the  indi- 
vidual who  to  a  large  extent  held  the  destiny  of  the  city 
in  his  hands.  City-wide  confidence  in  and  knowledge  of 
the  Plan  Leader  should  go  forward  shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  city-wide  confidence  in  the  Plan. 

The  results  of  study  of  this  book  appear  threefold  — 
attracting  the  attention  and  sympathy  of  the  parents  to 
the  Plan  of  Chicago  through  their  children  as  a  medium; 

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the  training  of  a  future  citizenry  to  become  responsible 
in  matters  of  government  control ;  the  ultimate  accom- 
plishment of  the  whole  Plan  in  future  years  through  an 
enlightened  citizenry. 

The  Plan  textbook  was  adopted  by  the  Chicago  Board 
of  Education  in  1912  —  a  full  season's  study  before  the 
first  Plan  project  went  to  the  people  for  their  approval. 
This  was  the  first  departure  of  an  American  school  board 
in  admitting  for  study  as  a  standard  text  a  work  on  city 
planning  and  the  duties  of  citizenship  toward  this  great 
issue,  although  in  European  colleges  and  special  schools 
city  planning  has  been  studied  for  more  than  thirty  years. 
This,  without  doubt,  accounts  for  the  marvelous  develop- 
ment of  many  cities  across  the  Atlantic  in  accordance  with 
scientific  plans. 

The  first  issue  of  IV acker's  Manual  was  fifteen  thou- 
sand copies.  It  was  adopted  as  a  part  of  the  curriculum 
of  the  eighth  grade  course.  In  this  the  school  authorities 
followed  the  wish  of  the  Plan  executives,  whose  convic- 
tion it  was  that  the  larger  number  of  students,  while 
finishing  the  common  schools,  fail  to  enter  the  high 
schools,  preferring,  either  by  choice  or  necessity,  to  take 
up  business  pursuits.  It  was  believed,  too,  that  there  was 
value  in  an  appeal  to  the  children  at  their  most  impres- 
sionable age,  and  the  way  did  not  seem  open  to  bridge 
the  two  schools  with  the  study. 

The  text,  which  was  in  the  form  of  a  physical  geog- 
raphy, contained  all  of  the  beautiful  drawings  in  colors 
taken  from  the  original  Commercial  Club  Plan  report. 
These  were  accompanied  by  innumerable  charts  and  in- 
teresting pictures  of  past,  present,  and  future  Chicago. 

97 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

The  introduction  recited  the  fact  that :  "  Chicago  is  des- 
tined to  become  the  center  of  the  modern  world  if  the 
opportunities  within  its  reach  are  intelHgently  reahzed 
and  if  the  city  can  receive  a  sufficient  supply  of  trained 
and  enlightened  citizens."  This  led  to  an  appeal  to  teach- 
ers and  students  in  the  thought  that : 

Love  of  country,  the  feeling  inherent  in  every  normal 
boy  and  girl,  and  expressed  by  them  throughout  their 
lives  in  their  acts  of  patriotic  devotion,  by  development 
of  our  citizenship  is  being  given  a  companion  sentiment 

—  devotion  and  passionate  interest  in  the  safety  and  wel- 
fare of  our  cities.  This  new  feeling  of  community 
patriotism  —  an  outgrowth  of  modern  conditions  of  life 

—  takes  the  form  generally  of  a  high  and  controling  pride 
in  one's  native  city  or  in  the  city  in  which  one  abides 
and  has  adopted  as  his  home. 

Modern  educators  and  leaders  in  public  affairs,  noting 
the  birth  and  rise  of  this  patriotic  impulse  in  our  cities, 
see  in  it  a  great  factor  for  future  good  for  the  country. 
They  see  in  it  the  approach  of  good  government  in  the 
cities ;  they  see,  too,  that  development  and  cultivation  of 
this  impulse  means  good  effects  of  the  most  stable  and 
lasting  character  upon  our  national  institutions  by  a 
deepening,  broadening,  and  intensifying  of  national 
patriotism. 

Thus  arises  a  recognized  need  of  bringing  out  in  the 
children  of  our  cities  a  sharp,  clear,  vivid  interest  in 
those  cities,  in  their  history,  in  their  growth,  in  their 
present,  and  in  their  future.  The  fact  that  so  many 
millions  of  our  people  now  live  in  cities  and  that  city 
growth  is  continuing  on  increasing  lines  means  absolutely 
that  the  cities  and  their  people  will  shape  the  course  and 
form  the  destiny  of  our  country  at  large.  The  cities  will 
set  the  policies  for  the  nation.  Impulses  for  good  order, 
cleanliness,  honestv,  and  economy  in  government  must 

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be  the  product  of  education  of  the  children  of  our  cities 
if  our  country  is  to  continue  its  course  in  history  and 
maintain  its  place  in  civilization. 

This  introduction  concluded  with  the  statement  that : 

It  seems  adrisable  to  give  a  number  of  questions  at 
the  end  of  each  chapter  to  assist  the  child  in  this  rather 
difficult  subject.  In  seeking  answers  to  these  questions 
the  school  child  will  have  instilled  in  his  mind  a  per- 
manent interest  in  the  civic  welfare  of  Chicago  that  will 
be  an  immense  benefit  to  the  future  of  our  city.  Proper 
emphasis  has  been  given  to  the  history  of  great  cities  of 
the  past  and  to  the  causes  that  led  to  their  power.  It  is 
the  earnest  purpose  of  the  author  to  make  the  child  feel 
that  in  him  rests  the  responsibility  of  assisting  Chicago 
to  attain  its  future  greatness. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  season's  study  an  interesting 
discussion  took  place  among  the  school  authorities  as  to 
the  interrogative  method  of  study.  Certain  instructors 
wanted  to  change  to  the  topical  and  others  to  the  in- 
ductive method  of  instruction,  but  it  was  decided  that  at 
best  the  pros  and  cons  of  the  three  methods  made  it  a 
moot  question.  A  canvass  of  every  teacher  and  principal 
showed  an  overwhelming  majority  favorable  to  contin- 
uing the  use  of  the  interrogative. 

It  was  not  easy  to  depict  the  Plan  of  Chicago  in  lan- 
guage sufficiently  simple  to  be  comprehended  by  eighth 
grade  children,  and  the  text  was  thought  by  certain  in- 
structors to  be  "over  the  heads  of  the  children."  The 
superintendent  of  schools  thought  otherwise  and  settled 
this  point  by  stating:  "It  is  better  to  draw  the  children 
up  to  the  heights  of  the  standard  of  the  author  than  to 

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WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

plunge  them  down  to  the  shallow  depths  of  their  own 
limited  conception." 

Study  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago  in  the  schools  is  ful- 
filling its  purpose  beyond  the  fondest  anticipation  of  its 
author  and  those  prominently  interested  in  its  success. 
Many  teachers  say  the  children  regard  it  as  their  most 
interesting  and  fascinating  study  and  beg  to  have  more 
time  for  it.  The  more  progressive  teachers  and  princi- 
pals have  taken  the  study  to  heart,  as  they  have  taken 
Chicago  to  heart.  Their  interest  in  it  is  reflected  in  the 
pupils.  This  is  expressed  in  the  schools  throughout  the 
city  by  technical  exhibits  drawn  by  the  children,  Plan 
essays,  orations,  and  recitals  of  the  most  interesting,  val- 
uable, and  creditable  nature. 

I  heard  twelve  children  of  alien  blood  on  Commence- 
ment Day  in  a  school  vv^here  fourteen  nationalities  were 
enrolled,  near  one  of  the  Ghetto  districts,  give  three- 
minute  orations  on  the  Plan  which,  in  the  composite,  I 
shall  remember  as  long  as  I  live  as  the  best  discourse  on 
the  Plan  that  anyone  could  deliver,  not  excepting  the 
experts.  Imagine  the  influence  of  this  on  the  proud  par- 
ents of  these  children,  who  were  present.  The  thought 
of  this  impressed  us  with  the  certainty  that  the  Plan  of 
Chicago  could  never  be  turned  back,  and  that  it  would 
go  on  and  on  to  fruition  propelled  by  the  school  children. 
The  Principals'  and  Head  Assistants'  associations  have 
been  wonderful  envoys  of  the  Plan.  The  hearts  of  the 
officers  of  the  commission  are  warm  toward  these  organ- 
izations. They  have  helped  to  cement  this  mutual  bond 
of  civic  devotion  through  meetings,  addresses,  supplies 
of  current  Plan  literature  and  automobile  tours  about  the 

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city,  where  Plan  projects  were  in  course  of  construction 
or  being  worked  out  in  the  city's  workshops. 

More  than  fifty  thousand  copies  of  W acker's  Manual 
have  been  pubHshed  for  the  current  needs  of  the  schools. 
It  has  been  reviewed  in  the  educational  periodicals  of 
many  countries.  Every  city  of  size  in  America  has  re- 
quested copies.  Three  cities  have  since  adopted  similar 
texts.  Certain  cities,  notably  Boston,  ordered  copies  by 
the  hundreds.  Realizing  the  interdependence  of  all 
American  cities,  the  Plan  Commission  has  taken  great 
pleasure  in  supplying  this  demand.  But  chief  pleasure  lies 
in  the  thought  that  the  idea  is  beginning  to  take  root 
everywhere  in  city  planning  that :  "  As  the  twig  is  bent, 
the  tree  inclineth."  An  interest  is  being  created  in  it  in 
the  growing  generation.  Civic  character  is  being  built 
and  civic  spirit  inspired  in  the  youth,  and  so  in  the  full- 
ness of  time  — 

When  the  boys  and  girls  who  are  now  provided  with 
instruction  in  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship  and  the 
benefits  of  good  city  planning  reach  maturity  and  assume 
the  burdens  of  citizenship,  city  planning  will  have  be- 
hind it  an  army  of  educated  advocates  of  good  civic 
order. 

It  was  well  stated  by  Mr.  Wacker  in  his  address  before 
the  National  City  Planning  Conference  that: 

To  succeed  in  city  planning,  the  skill  of  the  scientist 
and  of  the  architect  must  be  supplemented  by  all  the  skill, 
all  the  science,  all  the  persistence,  and  all  the  energy  any 
city  can  command  in  a  promotive  way  before  any  actual 
forward  step  can  be  taken  toward  realization. 

In  Europe  the  city  planning  architect  has  all  the  forces 

lOI 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

of  the  government  at  his  back.  In  America  he  stands 
alone  and  unless  by  proper  promotive  effort  the  /American 
public  can  be  brought  to  support  him  and  endorse  his 
ideas,  no  city  plan  ever  can  be  realized. 

Enthusiasm  is  necessary.  No  matter  how  much  merit 
there  may  be  in  a  city  plan,  it  is  imperative  that  its  pro- 
moters shall  be  at  all  times  full  of  enthusiasm  in  advanc- 
ing its  claims  to  recognition  and  adoption.  The  city  plan 
promoter  who  does  not  feel  enthusiastic  should  do  as 
Scarboro  advised,  "  Get  out  and  rub  up  against  some 
fellow  that  does." 

Optimism  is  another  element  necessary.  Have  the 
pessimists  ever  accomplished  any  very  constructive  work? 
Is  it  a  sign  of  strength  to  doubt  your  own  power  and  your 
own  responsibilities?  The  optimist  is  the  man  who 
pushes  forward  himself,  his  business,  and  his  community. 

And  to  prove  in  Chicago  that  city  planning  temper- 
ance lectures,  so  to  speak,  were  not  being  delivered  by 
confirmed  drunkards,  we  exploited  this  gospel  among 
ourselves.  yVfter  the  school  book  came  the  lecture  bureau. 

We  look  back  now  with  dismay  and  embarrassment  at 
our  first  efforts  to  present  the  Chicago  Plan,  aided  by  the 
stereopticon.  A  wide  search  was  made  for  material  that 
could  be  adapted  to  our  use.  It  was  a  futile  effort  almost 
devoid  of  results.  American  cities,  at  best,  could  supply 
but  little  either  in  theory  or  accomplishment.  Parts  of 
Europe,  rich  in  both,  could  not  interpret  either  to  our 
advantage.  Ancient  achievement  befogged  the  modern- 
day  issue,  and  thus  we  went  at  it  literally  almost  with 
"  hammer  and  tongs  "  to  build  out  of  our  own  experience 
a  lecture  that  satisfied  us.  The  beginning  was  doubtful, 
but  finally  we  succeeded  in  organizing  a  popular  hour- 

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and-a-half  lecture  showing  more  than  two  hundred  pic- 
tures of  twenty-four  countries  of  the  world,  which  critics 
say  compares  favorably  with  the  popular  lectures  of  the 
day  delivered  by  the  professionals. 

Our  great  difficulty  was  in  finding  a  way  to  present  the 
subject  free  enough  from  technical  terms  and  drawings 
to  hold  the  popular  interest,  yet  containing  sufficient  of 
them  to  drive  home  the  point  and  clinch  the  purpose  of 
the  Plan.  As  to  material,  it  was  a  long  process  of  growth 
and  elimination.  Likewise  it  was  expensive.  We  soon 
found  that  it  paid  to  give  the  people  the  best  that  could 
be  had.  Literally  we  learned  by  our  own  experience  and 
shaped  our  course  accordingly.  This  experience  came  in 
waves ;  the  first  one  hit  broadsides  something  like  this : 

At  the  close  of  a  big  meeting  early  in  the  lecture  work 
a  prominent  public  speaker  and  large  user  of  the  stereop- 
ticon  approached  the  lecturer  with,  "You  have  the  best 
lecture  but  the  worst  presentation  and  the  rottenest  pic- 
tures I  have  ever  seen."  Posthaste  the  next  day  followed 
a  consultation  with  the  city's  best  slide  artist.  There  are 
many  slide  makers,  but  only  a  few  good  ones,  and  not 
more  than  two  or  three  good  slide  painters.  This  is  a 
real  art  comparable  to  miniature  work.  Luckily  we  en- 
gaged the  exclusive  painter  for  one  of  America's  most 
noted  travelogue  lecturers.  This  discovery  cost  us  treble 
what  we  had  been  paying  for  slide  work  (and  we  thought 
we  had  been  getting  something  fairly  good)  but  it  was 
worth  it. 

Then,  to  improve  the  flow  and  interest  of  the  pictures, 
we  wrote  to  the  United  States  consuls  of  the  leading  cities 
in  every  civilized  country  in  the  world  to  supply  us  the 

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WHAT  OF  THE  CITY?       ' 

names  of  the  best  photographers  in  their  respective  cities. 
This  took  time,  but  we  were  finally  rewarded  in  collect- 
ing a  remarkable  portfolio  of  photographs  of  the  best  city 
improvements  throughout  the  world  so  that,  after  mak- 
ing more  than  two  thousand  slides,  finally  we  w^ere  able 
to  cull  down  to  two  hundred  representative  ones  and  were 
satisfied  that  the  lecture,  from  a  pictorial  standpoint,  was 
made  as  good  as  possible. 

Then  another  wave  hit  us  amidships.  It  was  at  a  com- 
munity center  meeting,  in  the  great  forum  of  one  of  the 
new  public  schools.  Fifteen  hundred  people  were  pres- 
ent and  there  was  music  by  the  school  orchestra  and  Glee 
Club.  The  principal  was  an  elderly,  lame  Irish  lady  — 
blunt  but  wise.  After  the  meeting  the  lecturer,  noting 
her  lameness,  offered  to  conduct  her  home  in  his  auto- 
mobile. On  the  w-ay  he  ventured,  "  May  I  ask  you  a 
question  without  any  fear  of  being  misunderstood?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  she  said,  "  I'll  decide  that  point  after 
I  hear  the  question." 

"  If  you  are  as  frank  in  answering  my  question  as  you 
are  in  answering  my  query,  every  tiling  will  be  bully," 
replied  the  lecturer. 

"Out  with  the  question,"  she  urged,  "let's  quibble 
about  it  afterward." 

"How  did  you  like  the  lecture?" 

"If  you  had  asked  what  was  the  matter  with  it  or  how 
did  it  take  with  tlie  audience,  I  could  have  answered  more 
to  the  point,"  she  said  reflectively. 

"  All  right,  put  it  that  way :  what  is  wrong  with  it  ?  " 
for  the  lecturer  knew  now  it  was  not  right. 

"  I  liked  it,"  she  replied,  "  but  the  audience  grew  rest- 

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less  long  before  you  were  through ;  it  is  too  technical,  too 
detailed  in  matters  of  minor  technical  importance.  These 
things  seem  important  to  you,  because  you  are  so  close 
to  your  subject,  but  they  mean  nothing  to  the  average 
citizen.  People  are  not  interested  in  who  will  place  the 
bricks  in  the  street  after  the  improvement  is  made. 
Make  your  lecture  interesting  to  the  masses.  All  you 
can  hope  to  do,  and  the  best  thing  you  should  want  to  do, 
is  to  create  a  spirit  for  the  Plan.  Dry-as-dust  technical 
stuff  won't  do  that.  Besides  our  people  hear  lectures 
every  week  on  all  sorts  of  subjects  at  these  community 
center  meetings  and  they  l:>ecome  more  or  less  critical 
and  expert  about  such  things.  Adopt  a  popular  style,  cut 
out  grades,  levels,  and " 

"  Enough,"  cried  the  lecturer,  interrupting  her,  "  and 
thanks,  awfully.  That's  just  what  I  wanted ;  honest,  con- 
structive criticism  is  so  hard  to  obtain." 

Then  followed  a  final  revision  which  terminated  in  a 
continued  refining  process  of  the  lecture  in  which  all  the 
best  points  gathered  from  the  field  of  experience  were 
blended. 

The  schools  helped  greatly  in  this  lecture  work.  The 
Board  of  Education  placed  the  assembly  halls  of  the 
schools  at  the  disposal  of  the  Plan  Commission  without 
price.  The  more  recently  constructed  buildings  have 
splendidly  equipped  halls  with  seating  capacities  capable 
of  accommodating  from  five  hundred  to  two  thousand 
people.  The  older  buildings,  while  naturally  not  so  well 
equipped,  have  comfortable  halls  seating  from  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  to  four  hundred  people.  There  are  in  all 
one  hundred  and  fifty  assembly  halls  in  the  public  schools. 

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WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

These  are  neighborhood  meeting  places  and,  scattered 
about  in  all  parts  of  the  city,  they  are  of  wonderful  ad- 
vantage to  any  civic  campaign  where  speaking  is  a 
requisite.  ^ 

How  to  attract  the  people  to  the  Plan  of  Chicago  lec- 
tures in  the  schools  was  the  task.  Invitation  to  the  par- 
ents from  the  pupils  by  the  teachers  was  rejected  as  im- 
practicable. Requesting  the  presence  of  the  parents  in 
this  way  did  not  appear  quite  personal  nor  comprehen- 
sive enough  in  its  appeal.  Besides,  it  was  desirable  to 
reach  as  many  adults  in  each  neighborhood  as  possible, 
many  of  whom  have  no  children  attending  the  schools. 
A  plan  somewhat  expensive  but  very  effective  was  finally 
arranged.  The  capacity  of  the  hall  in  the  school  where 
the  lecture  was  to  be  given  was  ascertained.  An  address- 
ing company  was  then  instructed  to  prepare  addressed 
envelopes  for  twice  as  many  people  as  the  hall  w.ould 
seat,  selecting  the  names  from  a  territory  adjacent  to  and 
surrounding  the  school.  These  envelopes,  stamped  and 
mailed  by  the  addressing  company,  contained  an  illus- 
trated lecture  circular  and  two  free  family  tickets.  The 
body  of  these  circulars  was  prepared  in  advance  by  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  and  when  a  lecture  was  ready  to 
1d€  billed,  the  addressing  company  printed  the  invitation 
with  all  details  on  the  front  page.  This  gave  an  "only 
and  original"  appearance  to  each  issue  of  circulars. 

Avoidance  of  anything  stereotyped  is  of  extreme  value 
in  such  matters.  This  method  of  invitation  never  failed 
in  season  to  fill  the  halls  to  their  utmost  capacity.  As 
many  as  ninety  of  these  school  lectures  were  delivered 
in  a  single  winter  season.    The  schools  were  selected  in 

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order  and  to  equitably  cover  the  city.  The  lecturing  was 
all  done  by  the  three  officers  of  the  commission.  In  this 
lecture  work  it  was  determined  to  have  the  Plan  pub- 
licly discussed  by  only  those  who  were  intimately  familiar 
with  every  nook  and  cranny  of  it,  so  that  there  could  be 
no  possibility  of  misrepresentation  or  misinterpretation 
by  anyone  not  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  Plan  work. 

The  lecture  circulars  —  a  three-page  folder  —  were 
designed  after  the  style  of  the  popular  paid  lecture  prop- 
aganda. They  contained,  in  addition  to  attractive  illus- 
trations, a  printed  tour  of  the  world's  cities  visited  by  the 
stereopticon,  a  definite  outline  of  city  planning  by  the 
chairman,  stimulating  reference  to  a  better  city  for  all, 
a  solution  of  our  problems,  a  sketch  of  the  author  of  the 
Plan  and  what  was  expected  from  the  public  to  insure 
its  success.  As  many  as  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
of  these  circulars  were  mailed  to  citizens  in  a  single  sea- 
son. Thus  a  large  distribution  of  important  Plan  matter 
was  had.  This  had  its  effect  on  thousands  who  did  not 
even  attend  the  lectures. 

During  the  first  seven  years  of  the  commission,  nearly 
four  hundred  lectures  were  delivered.  Fully  half  of  these 
were  delivered  on  invitation  from  all  sorts  of  organiza- 
tions—  churches,  lodges,  fraternities,  women's  clubs, 
commercial  organizations,  factories,  social  clubs,  colleges, 
special  schools,  and  interests.  One  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-five thousand  people  —  one  in  every  fourteen  resi- 
dents of  Chicago  —  have  been  directly  reached  with  the 
Plan  message. 

The  four  great  educational  mediums  in  advancing  the 
Plan  of  Chicago  —  the  press ;  the  Plan  booklet,  Chicago's 

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WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Greatest  Issue;  the  school  book;  and  the  lecture  course  — 
were  not  without  their  special  ramifications. 

Chief  among  their  effective  publicity  aids  was  a  motion 
picture  campaign.  This  consisted  of  a  two  reel  feature 
entitled,  A  Tale  of  One  City.  It  contrasted  Plan  pro- 
posals with  existing  conditions  and  was  interspersed  with 
scenes  of  human  interest  and  attraction  about  the  city. 

It  was  difficult  to  blend  still  and  motion  pictures  in  reel 
form,  but  withal  the  exhibition  was  creditable  and  ef- 
fective. The  reels  were  shown  in  more  than  sixty  Chi- 
cago theaters  to  an  estimated  audience  of  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fift}'-  thousand  people.  The  opening  week 
was  at  the  palatial  Majestic  Theater  and  on  the  opening 
night  the  audience,  which  packed  the  house  to  capacity, 
was  as  representative  as  a  grand  opera  occasion. 

Many  other  cities  sought  and  secured  the  privilege  of 
showing  A  Tale  of  One  City. 

Many  specific  publications  have  been  issued  by  the  com- 
mission. These  pertain  to  the  various  Plan  projects  that 
required  special  explanation  and  promotion  at  the  time 
of  their  initial  advancement.  Notable  among  these  was 
a  large,  handsome,  and  strikingly  effective  printed  argu- 
ment with  full-page  drawings  issued  during  the  famous 
west  side  railway  terminal  negotiations  between  the  city 
and  the  companies  involving  a  sixty-five  million  dollar 
project. 

Another  notable  pamphlet  was  entitled.  Fifty  Million 
Dollars  for  Nothing.  It  showed  the  people  of  Chicago 
how  they  could  obtain  thirteen  hundred  acres  of  Lake 
Front  parks,  playgrounds,  and  watercourses  by  utilizing 
the  waste  material  of  the  city  —  excavation  material,  old 

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Kansas  City's  heart.     From  1898  to  1918  Kansas  City  increased 
in  population  ninety-two  per  cent. 


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bricks  and  mortar,  street  sweepings,  cinders  and  ashes. 
It  pointed  out  that  by  so  doing  the  city  could  secure  in 
twelve  years  park  lands,  ready  for  development  and  worth 
fifty  million  dollars,  at  no  cost  whatever  to  the  taxpayers. 

The  most  comprehensive  and  far-reaching  specific  re- 
port published  by  the  commission  was  on  the  reclamation 
of  South  Water  Street.  Here  is  housed  the  great  food 
produce  market  of  the  city.  It  completely  absorbs  that 
street,  a  most  needed  thoroughfare  for  traffic  in  the  city's 
congested  center.  It  is  a  nuisance,  a  conflagration  dan- 
ger, a  menace  to  the  health  of  the  people,  and  a  huge 
economic  loss  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  world's  lead- 
ing shopping  district.  The  commission,  in  this  booklet, 
showed  how  the  people  could  remove  it  and  annually 
save  for  themselves  in  cost  of  food  handling,  traffic  ease- 
ment, city  revenue,  and  other  benefits,  the  huge  sum  of 
five  million  dollars  annually  —  enough  in  a  single  year 
to  construct  the  improvement. 

There  were  many  other  special  pamphlets  and  reports 
but,  to  cap  all,  the  commission  issued  a  family  affair 
booklet  not  intended  for  the  eyes  of  outsiders.  This  was 
entitled  Chicago's  IVorldzvide  Influence  in  City  Planning. 

It  was  not  so  much  an  attempt  at  "converting  the 
church  "  as  it  was  an  effort  to  "  keep  the  home  fires  burn- 
ing "  with  community  confidence  and  devotion  to  its  own 
Plan  as  it  was  regarded  by  the  rest  of  the  world.  This 
was  a  compilation  of  comments  and  requests  for  Chicago 
Plan  literature  from  hundreds  of  experts,  civic  workers, 
municipal  authorities,  libraries,  schools,  colleges,  and  pub- 
lic-spirited citizens  received  by  the  commission  from  all 
over  the  world. 

109 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Following  the  signing  of  the  armistice  in  the  Great 
War  and  the  announcement  of  the  "  Reconstruction 
Platform "  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission,  to  which 
the  Chicago  newspapers  devoted  twelve  columns,  an  ap- 
peal was  made  to  the  clergy  of  the  city  to  preach  from 
their  pulpits  upon  the  humanitarian  benefits  in  the  Plan 
of  Chicago.  The  commission's  Seed  Thoughts  for  Ser- 
mons—  a  compilation  of  the  humanitarian  and  social 
arguments  that  had  been  advanced  from  time  to  time  in 
the  various  publications  of  the  Plan  Commission  — 
pointed  out  the  close  harmony  between  the  social  work  in 
the  churches  and  the  benefits  in  the  Plan.  This  docu- 
ment, together  with  a  resolution  and  the  "  Reconstruction 
Platform"  was  sent  by  the  commission  to  every  clergy- 
man in  Chicago. 

The  literature  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission  has 
been  sent  on  request  to  one  hundred  and  ten  cities  in 
thirty-six  states  in  the  United  States  and  to  thirty-six 
cities  in  thirteen  foreign  countries.  Chicago's  pub- 
licity campaign  on  its  great  Plan  has  been  big,  far-reach- 
ing, inspiring,  and  effective.  It  points  the  way  to  the 
man  who  undertakes  city  planning  work  in  America, 
showing  him  why  and  how  he  will  have  to  get  down  to 
bedrock  in  his  efforts.  It  proves  to  him  that  he  will  have 
to  deal  with  fundamentals,  and  these  he  is  told  are  three 
—  the  conception,  the  creation,  and  the  promotion  of 
the  city  plan.  Behind  the  conception  of  a  city  plan,  the 
first  step  —  inspiration  —  is  made  clear.  Next  is  blazoned 
the  way  to  stir  the  hearts  of  men  and  to  inspire  in  their 
minds  that  desire  for  better  city  conditions  which  are  the 
fruits  of  well-executed  city  planning.     Finally  it  shows 

no 


PUBLICITY 


what  is  necessary  to  awaken  the  people  to  the  need  of  city- 
planning,  and  how  they  can  be  moved  to  action.  These 
are  the  questions  which  immediately  rise  and  must  be 
successfully  coped  with  when  city  planning  effort  is  con- 
templated. 


Ill 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MISAPPLIED  ENERGY 

IT  IS  impossible  to  get  away  from  the  fact  that  every 
day  good  ideas  fail  of  realization  because  they  are 
advanced  at  the  wrong  time  or  in  the  wrong  way. 

We  hear  the  expression,  "  He  is  a  man  of  ideas,"  as 
characterizing  successful  men  of  certain  types.  In  itself 
that  amounts  to  nothing.  Just  being  a  man  of  ideas  is 
of  no  value  whatever.  It  is  the  man  of  ideas  who  can 
"put  them  across"  that  counts.  The  world  is  full  of 
men  with  still-born  ideas.  Getting  an  idea  across  often 
proves  a  bigger  task  than  getting  the  idea.  Failure  to 
negotiate  an  idea  is  due  to  any  number  of  causes,  hurry 
being  the  principal  one.  It  is  said  that  the  man  who  is 
in  a  hurry  shows  that  his  job  is  too  big  for  him.  Hurry 
and  haste  are  vastly  different  things.  Haste  is  desirable, 
hurry  never. 

It  is  infinitely  better  to  take  ample  tim.e  in  preparing 
the  idea  for  a  safe  passage  over  than  to  see  it  wrecked 
on  hurry's  iceberg,  only  to  find  with  dismay  that  the  life- 
saving  devices  are  inadequate. 

Steering  an  idea  on  the  wrong  course  with  inexpe- 
rienced, stubborn,  or  egotistical  pilots  at  the  wheel  is  a 
most  frequent  and  flagrant  abuse  of  endeavor.  Misap- 
plied energy  covers  it  in  two  w^ords. 

Nowhere  in  my  long  and  varied  experience  in  trying 

112 


MISAPPLIED  ENERGY 

to  get  things  somewhere  have  I  witnessed  a  better  ex- 
ample of  misapphed  city  planning  energy  than  in  a  cer- 
tain New  England  city.  The  City  Planning  Council,  they 
called  themselves,  invited  me  to  that  city.  I  think  they 
got  me  with  the  statement  that  my  audience  would  include 
the  governor  of  the  state  and  the  mayors  of  the  leading 
cities.  These,  it  transpired,  could  not  be  present  because 
of  "previous  engagements."  But  no  matter;  in  accept- 
ing the  invitation  to  address  this  council,  I  expressly  stip- 
ulated one  hour  and  three-quarters  as  the  time  I  should 
require  for  my  illustrated  lecture  on  twenty-four  cities 
of  the  world.  This  was  agreeable  and  the  time  was 
allotted,  the  only  exception  being  one  other  address  "  not 
to  exceed  twenty  minutes." 

Arriving  at  the  Culture  Club,  I  found  the  council  gath- 
ered, and  there  w^as  not  one  left-over  to  spare  —  not  even 
a  poor,  little,  old  mayor  from  a  crossroads  corporation, 
much  less  the  governor.  That  audience  was  so  limited 
and  select  I  fancy  they  all  belonged  to  the  Order  of  Tub- 
bers,  whose  ancestors  landed  early  in  America,  yet  several 
centuries  after  the  Indians.  To  have  added  to  their  num- 
ber would  have  meant  contaminating  it  w'ith  the  blood  of 
rank  outsiders.  That  was  not  what  roused  the  ire  in  my 
soul,  however,  although  it  impressed  me  as  rather  expen- 
sive to  travel  a  thousand  miles  to  talk  to  a  handful  of 
people.  The  thing  that  got  professionally  "  under  my 
skin  "  was  the  number  and  style  of  the  speeches  which 
preceded  mine.  That  city  was  served  up  to  me  table 
d'hote,  a  la  carte,  frapped,  seasoned,  sweetened,  and  pre- 
pared only  as  it  could  be  done  by  the  original  Order  of 
Tubbers.     I  never  knew  the  place  was  so  important  be- 

•        113 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

fore.  It  took  seven  speeches  to  convince  me,  and  when 
finally,  at  ten-thirty,  the  toastmaster  announced  my  ad- 
dress, I  knew  that  not  even  these  gigantic  intellects  hun- 
gering and  thirsting  for  more  knowledge,  would  stand 
for  another  hour  and  three-quarters.  Disdaining  the  ros- 
trum, I  took  the  center  of  the  floor  and  hurled  at  them, 
"  You  will  never  get  anywhere." 

I  have  crawled  under  the  tent  of  a  circus;  scaled  the 
height  of  bleacher  fences;  ridden  in  a  box  car  of  a  cat- 
tle train  in  Indian  Territory;  traveled  by  scow,  buck- 
board,  and  horseback  through  innumerable  miles  of  raw 
country;  tried  to  get  a  good  seat  in  a  church  of  fashion- 
able pew  holders ;  negotiated  a  loan  on  my  personal  note 
in  a  high  and  mighty  bank;  interviewed  potentates,  plu- 
tocrats, highbrows,  autocrats,  celebrities,  and  grouches  in 
many  states  and  lands;  but  I  have  never  before  witnessed 
such  extraordinary  evidence  of  misapplied  energy  as  con- 
fronted me  on  this  occasion. 

The  "not  to  exceed  twenty-minute  talk"  which  pre- 
ceded mine  lengthened  into  three-quarters  of  an  hour  on 
a  local  good  roads  matter.  The  other  six  speeches  in- 
formed me  of  the  virtues  of  my  hosts'  city  and  the  man- 
ner of  its  procedure  in  city  planning.  Perhaps  I  grew 
vexed  when  they  told  me  that  their  state  had  more 
city  planning  boards  than  all  the  rest  of  the  United  States 
combined,  but  I  think  it  was  the  description  of  the  way 
they  were  going  about  their  planning  problem  that  got 
me  started.  It  was  either  that  or  the  cold,  barnlike  room 
of  the  Culture  Club.  At  all  events,  I  abandoned  my  lec- 
ture and  told  th^t  council  it  would  fail  to  get  anywhere 
because  it  was  working  backwards.    There  was  more,  but 

114 


MISAPPLIED  ENERGY 

that  was  the  "kick  off,"  as  we  say  in  football.  The  next 
noon  a  special  luncheon  was  provided  for  me  at  the  lead- 
ing downtown  club.  At  this  club  meeting  one  of  the  city's 
most  soulful,  sobful,  rhetorical  flame-throwers  was  se- 
lected to  admonish  me  gently  for  my  breach  of  New 
England  etiquette  of  the  night  before.  Properly  chastised 
after  the  fashion  of  the  place,  I  was  again  announced  as 
the  speaker  of  the  day, 

"  Well,"  I  said,  starting  in,  "  I  don't  want  to  leave  this 
city  with  the  feeling  that  I  have  been  ungracious,  al- 
though I  may  have  been  untactful.  And  that  reminds  me 
of  some  things  I  left  unsaid  last  night,  and  I  will  take 
this  opportunity  which  you  have  so  kindly  provided  to 
mention  them."  I  did,  and  that  was  the  last  of  it  or 
nearly  so.  On  my  way  back  to  the  hotel,  I  was  inter- 
cepted by  one  of  the  "  regular  "  folk  of  the  place,  who 
greeted  me  with,  "  You  certainly  handed  it  out  right  last 
night.  Why  didn't  you  let  us  know  you  were  coming, 
some  of  us  business  men  would  have  been  glad  to  tip 
off  some  things  to  you  so  that  you  could  have  made  your 
arraignment  even  stronger  than  it  was  ? " 

That  council,  true  to  my  prediction,  failed  to  get  any- 
where. The  reason  I  told  them  they  would  fail  was 
because  one  of  the  seven,  who  had  extolled  his  city  at 
the  Culture  Club  meeting,  informed  me  that  the  principal 
educational  propaganda  of  the  council  consisted  of  an 
exhibition  of  city  planning  drawings  and  data.  It  was 
actually  devoting  its  sole  energy  to  educating  people  who 
knew  all  about  city  planning.  They  are  the  only  ones 
who  attend  such  exhibitions.  The  masses  who  need  en- 
lightenment, for  they  are  the  voters,  do  not  attend.     I 

115 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

was  also  Informed  that  this  council  expected  to  influence 
the  Legislature  in  the  passage  of  an  enactment  giving 
•certain  grants  to  cities  to  aid  city  planning.  They  had 
no  plans,  no  public  sentiment  and  hence  no  influence,  but 
they  were  actually  planning  to  secure  an  enactment  from 
the  Legislature.  That  is  why  I  told  them  they  were 
working  backward. 

This  council  was  largely  composed  of  technical  and 
professional  people.  It  lacked  the  balance  and  support 
that  could  have  been  given  it  by  a  reasonable  blending 
of  prominent  business  men  and  leaders  in  other  walks  of 
life.  The  entire  history  of  the  world  of  promotion  indi- 
cates that  failure  has  often  been  due  to  organized  effort 
made  top-heavy  with  specific  interests. 

Misapplied  energy  in  city  planning  is  a  common  fault. 
I  have  dwelt  upon  the  lecture  incident  because  it  so  aptly 
illustrates  the  subject  of  this  chapter.  It  occurred  in  a 
city  where  city  planning  has  been  talked  and  projected 
for  two  decades  —  a  city  that  boasts  of  its  position  in 
the  world  of  city  planning,  but  which  has  no  plan  of  its 
own  and  no  movement  yet  organized  to  obtain  a  plan. 

The  fault  of  mistaken  procedure  does  not  lie  in  mak- 
ing mistakes  but  in  repeating  them  and  in  refusing  to 
profit  by  the  experience  of  others.  Our  American  cities 
are  interdependent.  Each  needs  every  bit  of  practical 
experience  that  may  be  obtained  from  any  source.  The 
first  evidence  that  a  planning  body  is  on  the  right  track 
is  shown  in  its  reaching  out  for  knowledge  from  every 
possible  source.  There  appears  to  be  less  breadth  among 
city  planning  authorities  in  this  respect  than  in  almost 
any  other  profession. 

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^%^^' 


MISAPPLIED  ENERGY 

The  first  thing  that  made  the  Chicago  World's  Cohim- 
bian  Exposition  so  marvelous  an  architectural  triumph 
was  the  breadth  of  policy  pursued  by  its  director  of  works 
and  its  board  of  directors  in  obtaining  the  best  talent  the 
entire  country  afforded.  When  plans  for  the  Administra- 
tion Building  were  under  discussion,  the  question  was 
asked,  "  Who  is  the  foremost  architect  in  the  country  on 
that  particular  style  of  architecture?"  This  query 
answered,  the  "best"  man  was  commissioned  at  once. 
Next  perhaps  it  was  the  Fine  Arts  Buiiding,  "Who  is 
the  best  for  that  style? "  was  asked.  The  right  man  hav- 
ing been  selected,  he  was  promptly  requested  to  take  over 
its  planning  and  construction.  "  Who  is  the  ablest  land- 
scape architect?"  came  up  in  order.  The  right  man 
named,  he  was  invited  to  take  that  feature  over,  and 
so  it  went  all  down  the  line  until  there  was  assembled  the 
most  formidable  array  of  architects  and  artists  in  the 
entire  country,  each  being  placed  in  absolute  charge  of 
the  thing  he,  of  all  others,  was  fitted  to  do. 

This  same  broad  policy  was,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
employed  in  the  creation  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  so  that 
today  the  whole  technical  world  knows  that  the  Plan's 
general  recommendations  are  sound  and  will  stand  un- 
challenged. Details  may  be  disputed  when  a  phase  of  the 
Plan  is  put  to  the  test  of  actual  construction,  but  the 
principles  have  not  been  and  cannot  be  controverted. 

People  may  be  found  in  every  community  who  are  so 
constituted  they  cannot  or  will  not  ride  with  any  pro- 
gressive program  for  the  general  welfare.  People  of  this 
nature  usually  class  themselves  as  "  reformers  "  or  they 
are  classed  as  such.    They  attack  everything  of  a  public 

117 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

nature  not  of  their  own  making,  but  they  seldom  originate 
and  they  never  do  anything  or  follow  anything  con- 
structive. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  a  large  middle  western 
city  invited  me  to  lecture  on  "  Right  Citizenship  in  Rela- 
tion to  City  Planning."  The  Plan  Commission  in  that 
city  was  not  affiliated  with  this  influential  body  and  it 
was  not  a  party  to  the  invitation.  The  morning  of  the 
lecture  —  I  had  arrived  in  the  city  the  night  before  —  the 
president  of  thie  Plan  Commission,  whom  I  had  never 
met,  called  me  over  the  telephone  at  my  room  in  the 
hotel  to  say  that  he  did  not  want  me  to  say  anything 
about  their  local  plans  during  my  lecture.  He  anticipated 
exactly  what  I  had  intended  to  do  and  I  was  surprised, 
of  course,  and  considerably  taken  aback,  because  I  had 
posted  myself  about  the  local  plan  and,  knowing  the  city 
well,  I  had  intended  to  give  the  Plan  Commission  a  good 
boost,  but  I  promised  instead  to  say  nothing.  Seven 
hundred  leading  business  men  attended  the  lecture  —  a 
force  greatly  to  be  desired  by  that  Plan  Commission  but 
which  was  denied  it  because  of  its  repellent  ways  —  and 
during  the  lecture  a  splendid  opportunity  was  presented 
to  say  just  the  most  helpful  thing  about  local'  city  plan- 
ning. Forgetting  my  promise,  I  gave  that  commission 
the  best  send-ofif  I  was  capable  of,  including  its  president. 
I  called  upon  that  great  crowd  of  business  stalwarts  to 
fall  in  behind  its  plan  and  its  commission  and  the  sug- 
gestion was  received  with  applause. 

The  next  day  that  same  president  took  the  more  courte- 
ous route  of  calling  upon  me  personally,  instead  of  calling 
me  up.     Such  a  change  in  a  man  I  never  before  have 

ii8 


MISAPPLIED  ENERGY 

witnessed.  Of  course,  being  a  big  man — for  that  is 
what  at  heart  he  really  was  —  he  profusely  apologized 
and  tendered  me  a  private  luncheon  to  meet  some  of  his 
associates.  He  said,  "  I  made  a  terrible  mistake,  because 
we  badly  need  the  sort  of  'help  you  gave  us,  and  especially 
do  we  need  the  help  of  the  business  men,  which  I  realize 
only  too  clearly  now ;  but  I  am  most  worried  over  the  way 
I  treated  you,"  "Well,"  I  said,  "don't  lose  any  sleep  on 
that  account.  Only,  if  you  had  not  stopped  me  at  the 
outset,  you  would  have  had  full  measure  instead  of  half 
a  loaf." 

That  Plan  Commission  has  made  very  little  progress 
although  it  is  in  a  city  where  the  need  for  city  planning 
is  a  UTost  glaring  one  and  its  plan  is  really  good. 

Now,  with  the  reconstruction  period  following  the 
Great  War  upon  us,  it  means  that  a  double  burden  must 
be  carried  —  that  of  overcoming  past  failures  and  that 
of  planning  and  executing  new  successes.  More  than 
ever  American  cities  are  now  crying  for  long  deferred 
betterments  for  their  people,  such  as  only  scientific  city 
planning  can  supply.  Not  an  ounce  of  wisdom,  energy, 
or  execution  should  be  lost  through  wrong  methods  of 
procedure. 


119 


CHAPTER  IX 

MUNICIPAL  AUTHORITIES 

FREQUENTLY  in  America,  in  speaking  of  Ameri- 
can municipal  rule,  we  hear  the  expression,  "  That 
coarse-grinding  and  slow-grinding  thing."  A  companion 
expression  to  this  is,  "  Graft  is  extant  everywhere  in  our 
municipal  governments."  Neither  of  these  expressions 
is  fair  to  the  situation.  Graft  we  have,  to  be  sure,  and 
there  alwaj^s  will  be  graft  everywhere  in  the  world  and 
there  always  has  been  in  every  form  of  government. 
Slow-grinding  and  coarse-grinding  tactics  and  the  prod- 
uct of  these  are  encountered,  and  we  know  that  the 
best  economic  results,  the  kind  of  results  that  are  obtained 
in  great  private  enterprises,  are  not  had  from  city  cor- 
porations. Knowing  all  these  things  and  surveying  the 
situation  with  a  critical,  yet  fair  eye,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  average  of  results  for  progressive,  honest,  and 
efficient  government  and  a  betterment  of  living  con- 
ditions in  cities  is  good.  This  average  undoubtedly 
applies  also  to  the  graft  situation.  A  general  betterment 
of  municipal  government  and  a  higher  order  of  honesty 
and  efficiency  is  unquestionably  currently  existent.  The 
days  of  the  political  "muckraker,"  the  "croaker,"  and 
the  professional  uplifter,  and  academic  reformer  have 
passed.  They  never  have  had  any  actual  place  in  the 
sincere  effort  for  betterment  of  municipal  conditions  in 

I20 


MUNICIPAL  AUTHORITIES 

our  country  and  their  accomplishments  to  that  end  have 
amounted  to  little  or  nothing. 

The  steady  progress  for  the  past  decade  toward  better 
things  in  American  cities  is  a  direct  outgrowth  of  the 
proper  economic  conception  of  improvements  on  the  part 
of  the  people,  and  the  adoption  of  more  scientific  ways 
of  doing  public  things  based  upon  it. 

One  thing  is  certain  —  the  character  of  our  municipal 
government  is  in  exact  ratio  to  the  desire  and  the  decree 
of  our  people.  Governments  do  not  create  themselves, 
neither  do  municipalities.  These  are  made  by  the  people 
and  it  is  well,  in  considering  them,  to  temper  judgment 
with  reason  and  wisdom.  Nowhere  is  there  a  better  ex- 
emplification of  an  "  undesirable  citizen  "  than  is  found  in 
the  man  who  stays  away  from  the  primaries  and  seldom 
goes  to  the  polls  Or  any  election.  When  he  does  go,  hav- 
ing made  no  study  of  the  qualifications  of  the  candidates, 
he  usually  votes  for  the  wrong  man;  and  later,  when 
his  city  is  confronted  with  evidences  of  inefficient  and 
dishonest  government,  he  lifts  his  hands  up  in  pious 
dismay  and,  in  the  most  scathing  terms,  excoriates  the 
rottenness  of  municipal  conditions.  Such  a  citizen  is, 
as  the  lawyers  would  say,  an  accessory  to  the  crime 
before  and  after  the  fact.  There  are  no  extenuating  cir- 
cumstances in  his  case  which  entitle  him  to  the  mercy  of 
the  court. 

Those  who  have  studied  municipal  development  abroad 
know  that  in  certain  foreign  countries  cities  are  improved 
in  the  most  orderly  and  attractive  manner,  that  the 
government  is  highly  scientific  and  therefore  honest,  and 
that  these  results  are  secured  with  economy  and  dispatch. 

121 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

What  is  imposed  upon  the  citizens  of  those  countries  to 
produce  these  results?  Where  is  the  American  who  is 
wilhng  to  admit  he  holds  all  his  possessions  in  equity 
with  his  neighbor?  In  the  matter  of  realty  holdings,  the 
average  American  citizen  is  satisfied  with  the  most  strin- 
gent laws  insofar  as  they  affect  and  regulate  his 
neighbor's  use  of  property  but  he  does  not  willingly 
recognize  any  law  whatsoever  relating  to  his  own. 

Undeniably  the  most  scientific  municipal  government 
in  the  world  is  found  in  the  countries  of  monarchical 
form  of  government.  Monarchies,  empires,  and  every- 
thing that  smatters  of  the  imperialistic  and  autocratic  are 
despised  things  in  the  world  today  and  justly  so.  How 
then  in  America  can  we  do  those  things  which  are  so 
clearly  to  be  desired  in  our  municipalities,  and  which  in 
other  countries  are  the  result  of  imperial  decree,  unless 
we  individually,  as  citizens,  come  to  appreciate  our  own 
responsibility  in  such  things? 

Graft?  Well,  as  for  that,  the  monarchical  forms  of 
government  are  not  without  graft.  The  difference  simply 
is  that  there  the  potentates  themselves  get  all  the  money, 
while  in  America  it  is  at  least  pretty  well  distributed. 
The  three  richest  men  in  the  world  have  been  declared  to 
be  the  rulers  of  certain  foreign  countries. 

How  were  the  colossal  riches  of  these  men  obtained? 
This  is  not  difficult  to  answer;  they  were  the  greatest 
grafters  the  world  ever  produced.  The  levies  on  the 
people  in  their  respective  countries  for  their  enormous 
royal  coffers  cause  to  pale  into  insignificance  the  imposi- 
tions endured  by  the  citizens  in  American  municipalities. 

There   is    a    lot    of    play   these    days    on    the   word 

122 


MUNICIPAL  AUTHORITIES 

"  efficiency "  and  the  expression  "  get  together,"  but 
common  sense  is  blue-white  quality,  one  hundred  per  cent 
proof,  and  selling  above  par  today,  just  as  it  did  when 
Moses'  motheV  placed  him  in  the  bulrushes.  She  knew 
what  she  was  doing — there  was  method  in  it — if  Moses 
didn't.  The  fact  that  he  was  too  young  to  understand 
had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  his  becoming  the  law- 
giver. It  is  not  always  necessary  to  make  the  other 
felloW  understand,  but  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  you 
yourself  know  what  you  are  doing.  Then,  when  the 
time  comes  to  make  him  understand,  you  will  not  back- 
reel  on  your  own  fishing  rod. 

Nothing  makes  a  public  official  so  mad  or  so  elusive 
as  a  committee  of  citizens  who  sally  forth,  with  Civic 
Righteousness  grasped  in  one  hand  and  Ignorance  cupped 
in  the  other,  to  tell  him  that  old  stuff  about  "  the  people's 
rights "  and  his  "  duty  as  a  servant."  How  they  love 
that  "servant"  stunt.  I  have  seen  citizens  in  city  plan- 
ning forums  wail  and  gnash  their  teeth  in  outraged  civic 
impotency,  only  to  return  to  nurse  their  offended  great- 
ness and  civic  patriotism  by  inflicting  it  upon  their  neigh- 
bors and  otherwise  peaceful  wives  and  children. 

Now,  a  public  official  is  human.  Besides  he  is  not  only 
a  servant,  but  he  is  the  representative,  the  plenipotentiary, 
you-yourself,  clothed  with  power  to  sit  in  the  seats  of  the 
mighty.  You  can  reach  him  with  the  same  tactics  you 
wouM  use  to  reach  the  Doctor  of  Divinity,  the  iceman, 
the  physician,  the  janitor,  the  capitalist,  Bill  Jones,  Pat 
Hogan,  or  Mrs.  Grundy. 

A  public  official  can  hear  you ;  he  will  understand  you 
if  you  walk  right  up  to  him,  natural-like,  and  say,  "This 

123 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

is  the  coldest  winter  we  ever  have  had,  but  it  will  be  hot 
again  next  summer;  perhaps  hotter  than  last  summer  be- 
cause of  this  season's  intense  cold.  We  get  an  average 
amount  of  weather  every  year  anyhow,  and  usually  ex- 
tremes by  contrast.  This  reminds  me,  we  ought  to  do 
something  about  getting  more  playgrounds  for  the  chil- 
dren. How  many  kiddies  have  you?  Eh,  is  that  so? 
I've  got  two  fine  boys  myself.  They  are  kicking  about 
playing  ball  in  the  streets  because  the  lots  near  us  have 
all  been  built  up  so  fast.  We  need  more  playgrounds 
under  city  management  and  you  and  I  are  both  interested. 
I  am  going  to  send  you  a  plan  and  some  ideas  we  have 
worked  out  with  our  expert.  Let's  get  together  on  this 
later  if  we  can." 

This  isn't  highbrow  but  it's  human.  If  it  is  used  and 
followed  up  it  will  win. 

But  so  many  would-be-reformers  appear  at  the  Council 
Chamber  with  hundred-mile  looks  in  their  eyes,  and  start 
in  with,  "  Mr.  Public  Official,  you're  the  servant  of  the 
people.  Don't  you  ever  forget  that.  We  have  come 
here  to  tell  you  that  you  are  remiss,  etc." 

When  they  get  that  far,  "Mr.  Servant"  either  tilts 
his  big  black  cigar  and  blows  the  room  so  full  of  smoke 
that  you  can't  see  the  issue,  or  suddenly  he  remembers  an 
engagement  in  the  anteroom  and  ducks  out.  The  chair- 
man, who  cannot  go  out  because  he  is  the  chairman, 
smiles  an  anaemic  sort  of  grin  and  says,  "  Gentlemen, 
perhaps  you  are  right,  but  as  there  is  no  quorum  present, 
I  will  ask  you  to  file  your  papers  with  the  committee, 
and " 

What  happens?    A  new  page  is  written  in  the  history 

124 


MUNICIPAL  AUTHORITIES 

of  misspent  zeal  in  a  good  cause  gone  wrong  in  the  hands 
of  fooHsh  citizens. 

"  Nonsense,"  you  say,  "  the  only  way  to  get  along  with 
a  public  official  is  to  roll  up  a  big  wave  of  public  opinion 
and  then  walk  right  in  and  tell  him  where  he  gets  off." 
One  of  the  funny  things  about  this  "getting  off"  busi- 
ness is  that  usually  these  self-constituted  guardians  of 
the  public  welfare  forget  to  roll  up  the  big  wave.  They 
tr}^  to  hit  it  off  alone.  It  doesn't  require  a  Socrates  to 
figure;  out  the  result. 

"  No  use  trying  anything  else,"  this  crowd  will  argue, 
"  aim  true  and  hit  hard."  All  they  have  to  show  for  it  is 
a  row  of  broken  knuckles. 

Do  they  get  anywhere — -these  hard  hitters?  They  do 
not,  and  that  isn't  the  funniest  part  of  it.  Because  they 
fail  somehow  their  resentment  mounts  and  is  perpetuated, 
and  out  of  it  is  bred  new  generations  of  "hard  hitters." 
Always  you  hear  them  say,  "  Straight  out  for  the  probos- 
cis is  the  only  way.  Tell  'em  where  they  get  off,  that's 
the  thing." 

Why  do  some  people  forget  that  our  officials  are  good 
or  bad  —  our  government  corrupt  or  honest  —  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  goodness  or  badness,  the  decency  or  the 
honesty  of  the  people  themselves? 

We  must  learn  to  be  fair  as  well  as  accurate  in  our 
analysis  af  local  conditions.  Naturally,  in  advancing  the 
Plan  of  Chicago,  the  Plan  Commission  has  been  in  con- 
stant contact  not  only  with  government  procedure  but 
with  the  administrators  thereof  —  the  city  authorities  — 
and  while  our  laws  have  been  found  cumbersoipe  and  our 
methods   of  procedure   uneconomic   and   unscientific   in 

125 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

some  respects  our  authorities  have  been  aggressive  and 
progressive.  They  have  supported  the  betterment  proj- 
ects of  all  the  people  with  enthusiasm  and  vision.  This 
they  did  when  these  projects  were  vague  in  the  public 
mind  because  the  idea  of  their  benefits  had  not  been 
sufficiently  established  and  could  not  be  until  the  im- 
provements were  completed  and  fulfilling  the  needs  of 
the  people. 

It  is  folly  and  injustice  to  constantly  berate  public 
officials  for  nonperformance  or  misperformance  when, 
in  reality,  the  blame  for  these  often  rests  with  the  sys- 
tem of  municipal  government  and  the  niggardly  pay  in 
many  instances  of  city  employes. 

I  remember  a  familiar  figure  about  town  —  a  roust- 
about—  who  had  tried  and  failed  at  everything.  Finally 
he  disappeared  for  a  long  time.  On  his  return,  dressed 
in  a  battered  top  hat  and  rusty,  frayed  frock  coat,  he 
was  greeted  by  an  acquaintance  who  accosted  him  with, 
"Well,  where  have  you  been  and  what  are  you  doing 
now?"  "  Preaching,"  was  the  prompt  reply.  "Preach- 
ing ! "  exclaimed  his  acquaintance,  "  pretty  poor  pay,  isn't 
it?"  "Yes,  and  its  pretty  poor  preaching,  too,"  was  the 
reply. 

The  underpaying  of  most  municipal  and  of  nearly  all 
other  governmental  officials  apparently  has  been  estab- 
lished in  America  as  a  measure  of  economy,  but  it  has 
proven  to  be  most  uneconomic.  It  has  been  a  case  of 
pretty  poor  pay  and  pretty  poor  results.  We  should  pay 
our  public  officials  enough  to  attract  good  ones,  see  to 
it  that  we  do  get  good  ones  and  then  back  them  up. 
When  that  is  done,  we  shall  have  a  vastly  more  beneficial 

126 


MUNICIPAL  AUTHORITIES 

order  of  things  in  America.  Meanwhile  we  must  do  the 
best  we  can  with  what  we  have.  For  good  order  and 
poor  order,  whichever  the  case,  the  people  are  responsible, 
not  those  whom  they  elect. 

After  all  is  said  and  done,  it  is  likely  that  many  public 
officials  need  encouragement  more  than  condemnation. 
Our  people  do  not  look  deeply  into  the  reason  for  things. 
When  these  are  wrong  they  do  not  condemn  the  system, 
when  that  is  at  fault,  because  this  in  its  last  analysis 
would  mean  condemning  themselves,  and  so  they  blame 
those  whom  they  place  in  office. 

In  Chicago,  in  191 8,  the  pay  of  an  alderman  was  raised 
from  $3,000  to  $3,500  per  annum.  The  increase  was 
made  by  the  aldermen  themselves.  Well,  if  an  alderman 
of  a  city  of  first  rank,  the  business  of  the  City  Council 
of  which  is  the  greatest  in  that  city,  is  not  worth  $3,500 
per  year,  what  is  he  worth  ?  Not  much,  to  be  sure.  We 
should  not  tolerate  a  condition  of  affairs  that  makes  it 
necessary  for  an  alderman  to  raise  his  own  salary  to 
obtain  an  ordinary  living  wage.  Such  matters  should 
be  adjusted  by  fair  and  proper  constitutional  enactments. 

Another  flagrant  evidence  of  injustice  in  our  large 
cities  is  the  salary  of  our  school  teachers,  whom  someone 
has  characterized  as  "missionaries  of  God  for  the  en- 
lightenment of  the  people,"  and  to  whom  we  entrust  not 
only  the  education  of  our  children  but  the  development 
of  their  morals  as  well.  Elementary  school  teachers  do 
not  receive  a  better  wage  than  a  stenographer  or  an 
ordinary  office  clerk.  In  certain  instances  they  receive 
less.  Little  wonder  that  we  stand  aghast  at  the  poor 
progress  of  our  children,  if  indeed  we  give  the  matter  any 

127 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

thought  at  all.  In  fact,  few  salaries  in  educational  fields 
are  what  they  should  be.  Daniel  Webster  said :  "  The 
cheapest  thing  in  all  the  world  is  brains  —  brains,  the 
principal  thing  upon  which  everything  in  the  world  de- 
pends for  success." 

We  pay  the  president  of  the  United  States  $75,000  per 
year.  It  is  not  many  years  ago  that  his  salary  was  raised 
from  $50,000  per  year,  and  this  was  not  accomplished 
without  a  great  deal  of  grumbling  by  many  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  in  the  national  government.  The 
president  of  the  United  States  is  the  chief  executive  of 
the  richest  nation  in  the  world.  The  king  of  England 
and  his  family  receive  $2,500,000  per  year  and  that 
largely  is  a  matter  of  tradition  —  to  keep  up  appearances, 
so  to  speak  —  for  his  power  and  his  responsibility  are 
only  a  fraction  of  that  of  our  own  president. 

We  can  learn  many  very  profitable  points  in  matters 
of  government  and  economic  procedure  in  all  things  from 
the  countries  of  Europe  —  not,  however,  from  the  pro- 
portion of  the  king  of  England's  salary.  One  of  the 
best  things  we  can  learn  is  to  respect  and  support  public 
men  and  private  citizens  who  do  meritorious  things  for 
their  fellows. 

In  some  European  countries,  if  a  private  citizen  as- 
sumes large  responsibilities  of  a  public  nature,  he-  is 
honored  by  his  government  by  an  award  of  special  orders, 
conferred  as  a  mark  of  esteem  and  appreciation.  In 
America,  too  often,  the  query  is:  "What  is  he  going 
to  get  out  of  it?"  or  "What  is  there  in  it  for  him?" 
This  slur  is  a  common  practice  in  discussing  public 
officials  —  "servants  of  the  public,"  we  term  them.     We 

128 


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MUNICIPAL  AUTHORITIES 

are  all  in  the  world  for  service,  if  we  understand  what 
we  are  here  for  at  all,  and  the  finest  thing  in  the  world 
is  real  service  for  others.  The  value  of  the  service  and 
the  appreciation  with  which  it  should  be  received  ought 
not  to  be  minimized  because  it  is  paid  for.  "Servant" 
is  a  fine  word;  the  term  "public  servant"  was  intended 
to  be  a  mark  of  distinction,  but  we  are  prone  to  take 
the  expression  in  its  meanest  and  lowliest  sense. 

The  Chicago  Plan  Commission  has  achieved  results 
by  working  hand  in  hand  with  the  city  officials.  Upon 
this  subject  its  chairman  said  in  his  address  before  the 
Fifth  National  Conference  on  City  Planning: 

In  Chicago,  in  our  Plan  work,  we  proceed  upon  the 
assumption  —  and  it  is  an  assumption  that  I  believe  is 
amply  justified  —  that  the  average  man  in  an  official 
position  is  a  man  devoted  to  the  faithful  performance  of 
his  duty  as  related  to  the  welfare  of  his  city. 

I  sincerely  believe  that  the  reason  why  many  people 
interested  in  movements  devoted  to  civic  advance  fail  in 
their  efforts  is  because  they  do  not  encourage  the  sym- 
pathy and  gain  the  close  acquaintance  of  the  men  who 
administer  public  affairs  in  the  United  States. 

In  Chicago  we  place  implicit  reliance  upon  our  city 
officials.  We  cultivate  official  acquaintance  in  all  city 
departments  which  affect  our  work,  and  the  progress  we 
have  made  has  been  possible  because,  during  the  life  of 
our  commission  we  have  had  ii>  places  of  power  men  of 
bigness  in  business  capacity  and  of  brain  and  of  broad 
sympathies  who  have  recognized  the  fundamental  im- 
portance of  city  planning  in  the  welfare  of  the  people. 

We  have  frequent  meetings  to  discuss  city  planning 
details  and  to  project  programs  for  immediate  future 
effort  and  to  these  meetings  we  invite  the  administrative 

129 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

heads  of  our  city  government.  We  keep  closely  in  touch 
with  and  encourage  the  interest  also  of  our  state  and 
county  officials,  from  whom  we  hj^ve  always  had  effective 
support.  We  are  believers  in  "  get  together "  meetings 
and  we  practice  our  belief  in  them  all  the  time.  The 
city  planner  and  the  public  official  must  go  hand  in  hand 
to  get  results.  This  course  of  putting  trust  in  public 
officials  is  proving  its  wisdom  every  day.  In  evidence  of 
this  I  cite  the  fact  that  even  now,  though  the  Plan  of 
Chicago  has  not  been  officially  adopted  as  a  whole,  there 
is  a  tacit  agreement  under  which  the  Plan  Commission  is 
being  consulted  before  the  beginning  of  any  great  city 
work  coming  within  its  scope. 

This  is  good  gospel  and  good  practice  to  be  fol- 
lowed anywhere  but  almost  universally  the  reverse  of 
these  tactics  is  employed.  It  is  a  common  fault  of  many 
citizen  bodies  to  attempt  to  work  out  their  plans  without 
the  knowledge  or  the  help  of  the  city  authorities  whom 
they  regard  as  desirable  to  be  avoided  until  they  are  ready 
to  go  before  them  for  assistance  when,  to  their  chagrin 
and  possible  defeat,  they  receive  in  its  stead  only  a  cold 
shoulder. 

In  a  powerful  editorial  upon  the  subject,  "  Responsi- 
bility for  Bad  Government,"  the  Chicago  Daily  News 
summed  it  up  in  this  w^ay : 

If  citizens  who  profess  to  desire  good  government  vote 
for  inferior,  weak,  unfit-men  or  fail  to  vote  and  leave 
the  choice  to  machine-controlled  elements,  the  ultimate 
responsibility  for  bad  government  falls  upon  them.  The 
people  in  a  democratic  community  have  the  kind  of 
administration  they  wish  or  deserve.  Active  work  on 
behalf  of  good  government  is  and  always  will  be  the  price 
of  good  government. 

130 


MUNICIPAL  AUTHORITIES 

This  platform  is  frequently  promulgated  in  every  one 
of  Chicago's  powerful  newspapers,  the  American,  the 
Evening  Post,  the  Journal,  the  Daily  News,  the  Herald- 
Examiiwr  and  the  Tribune — these  are  continually  and 
in  unison  preaching  the  doctrine  of  good  government. 
That  is  one  of  the  principal  reasons  for  Chicago  being 
one  of  the  best  governed  cities  in  the  United  States.  Sel- 
dom has  a  graft  scandal  been  heard  of  in  Chicago;  and 
on  the  few  occasions  when  charges  of  graft  have  been 
thrust  before  the  public  notice,  they  have  not  been  proven. 
All  that  is  necessary  to  perceive  the  abundant  evidence  of 
good  government  in  Chicago  is  to  note  the  nature,  extent, 
and  quality  of  city  betterments  and  to  contrast  these, 
considered  as  to  the  city's  limited  corporate  revenue, 
with  those  of  other  large  cities. 

The  mission  of  the  people  is  to  elect  fit  men  to  public 
office  and  when  that  is  done,  to  give  them  encourage- 
ment and  backing.  The  mission  of  the  public  press  is  to 
ferret  out  the  unfit  in  public  office  and  to  admonish  the 
people  to  be  more  watchful  and  active  and  to  urge  the 
authorities  to  the  maximum  degree  of  performance  in 
the  public  weal.  In  cities  where  these  powerful  allies 
of  progressiveness  and  righteousness  prevail  there  is  little 
room  for  criticism  by  the  people  and  seldom  is  any  heard. 

Ever  and  ever  is  the  world  of  men  and  things  moving 
nearer  and  nearer  its  triumphant  goal  of  cooperation 
and  not  opposition.  The  dawning  of  a  new  day  will 
have  begun  throughout  the  world  when  "  efficiency  "  shall 
no  longer  be  a  byword  but  the  most  purposeful  and  mean- 
ingful word  of  the  civilized  tongue. 


131 


T 


CHAPTER  X 

SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

HE  most  uneconomic  thing  imaginable  is  the  man- 
ner in  which  pubHc  improvements  are  made  in 
cities  in  the  United  States.  Europe  would  laugh  at 
the  way  we  do  these  things.  Take  a  street  widening  or 
cutting  project,  for  example.  The  time  and  expense 
needed  to  .educate  the  public ;  the  loss  in  time  from  the 
moment  the  city  actually  begins  proceedings  until  the 
improvement  is  finished  is  enormous.  Legal  barriers 
over  the  property  to  be  taken,  entailing  diminution  in 
property  values  and  rentals,  and  the  cumbersome  legal 
procedure  necessary  before  the  city  can  acquire  the  re- 
quired property,  combine  to  put  a  hardship  upon  the 
private  property  involved,  to  deprive  the  people  of  the 
improvement  for  years  and  to  cause  a  loss  that,  if  it 
could  be  eliminated  by  better  methods,  often  would  be 
ample  to  pay  for  the  improvement. 

There  are  many  causes  for  this  absurd  and  unscien- 
tific way  of  going  about  the  undertaking.  The  fault  is 
only  in  part  due  to  the  laws  under  wdiich  a  condemnation 
suit  is  tried,  although  the  laws  of  themselves  in  most 
states  where  the  right  of  excess  condemnation  is  not 
provided  for,  are  antiquated,  cumbersome,  and  almost 
devoid  of  ordinary  common  sense  or  justice.  But  this 
is  only  one  reason.     Other  elements  causing  long,  un- 

132 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

necessary,  and  expensive  delays  are :  the  objections  of 
selfish  property  owners  who  attempt  to  hold  up  the  city 
in  a  good  deal;  politics;  the  dilly-dallying  tactics  of  care- 
less municipal  employes  and  authorities;  the  foolish  and 
unnecessary  bickering  of  public  bodies  where  more  than 
one  is  a  party  to  the  case;  and  the  machinations  of  pro- 
fessional agitators  and  the  like  who  infest  the  public 
hearings  with  the  intolerable  nuisance  of  their  presence. 
These  prevail  in  every  such  case  despite  the  pleadings  of 
the  Plan  Commission,  city  authorities,  and  the  news- 
papers. The  press  of  a  progressive  city  is  always  and 
uniformly  in  favor  of  wise  public  improvements. 

State  laws  can  be  amended  and  simplified;  larger 
powers  may  be  granted  the  city  without  in  the  slightest 
degree  taking  that  which  rightfully  belongs  to  the  prop- 
erty owner.  Fewer  expensive  experts  and  lawyers  would 
be  necessary  to  bolster  up  the  city's  case  if  cities  had  the 
rights  and  powers  which  eventually  they  must  acquire  if 
city  planning  is  to  be  facilitated  in  America.  Changing 
and  improving  the  laws,  however,  would  only  partly 
correct  the  faults  that  cause  interminable  and  expen- 
sive delays  whenever  a  public  improvement  is  under- 
taken. A  better  knowledge  of  the  benefits  of  city 
planning  will  stimulate  the  people  to  action  and  put  to 
rout  the  mischievous  and  vicious  agitator.  The  people 
also  have  the  power  to  regulate  designing  political  office 
holders  and  employes.  The  most  difficult  thing  of  all  is 
to  curb  the  selfishness  of  the  property  owners  who,  in 
every  improvement  for  all  the  people,  see  only  an  oppor- 
tunity to  enrich  themselves.  Then,  too,  there  is  every 
once  in  a  while  a  property  owner  who  opposes  an  im- 

133 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

provement  through  sheer  ignorance,  as  in  the  Ogden 
Avenue  improvement  in  Chicago,  where  the  only  one 
objection  that  was  raised  by  a  property  owner  was  based 
upon  the  claim  that  the  extension  would  wipe  out  a  busi- 
ness corner.  This  single  objection  was  caused  purely 
through  stupidity  because  the  facts  in  the  case  showed 
that  the  location  in  question,  by  slight  alteration  to  fit  the 
new  street,  would  be  a  more  remarkable  and  strategic 
business  point  than  ever  before  and  greater  than  could 
possibly  be  the  case  if  the  new  street  were  not  put  through 
exactly  as  planned. 

Another  serious  element  of  delay  is  the  frequency  of 
changes  in  political  offices.  The  average  office  seeker 
spends  months  in  campaigning  to  secure  an  office.  If  he 
is  successful,  months  pass  before  he  is  sufficiently  well 
established  in  it  to  give  attention  to  city  planning  matters. 
Scarcely  has  he  begun  to  get  the  swing  of  things  and  to 
lend  his  support  to  Plan  projects  when  another  election 
rolls  around.  If  he  is  reelected,  it  is  not  so  bad;  but 
if  he  is  defeated,  the  process  of  reestablishment  must 
begin  all  over  again  for  the  city  planner,  only  to  be 
repeated  every  time  an  election  comes,  which,  to  the 
patient  planner,  seems  to  occur  wellnigh  every  other 
month. 

Where  a  city,  at  work  on  a  plan,  is  obliged  to  deal  with 
the  federal,  state,  county,  and  city  administrations,  it 
is  not  an  infrequent  experience  that  no  sooner  is  every- 
thing straightened  out  and  running  smoothly  with  one 
body  when  along  comes  an  election  and  upsets  everything 
Math  another  body.  Every  project  in  the  Plan  of  Chi- 
cago, whether  only  recommended  by  the  Plan  Commis- 

134 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

slon  or  adopted  by  the  city,  has  survived  three  changes  in 
city  administration,  two  national,  three  county  and  three 
state.  Not  a  single  one  of  these  projects  is  as  yet  finished. 
It  is  because  of  all  these  things  that  it  is  clearly  the 
mission  of  every  citizen  who  has  the  city's  welfare  at 
heart  to  study  the  needs  of  his  city,  to  familiarize  him- 
self with  its  plan,  if  it  has  one,  and  to  get  behind  that 
plan  and  help  to  push  the  work  as  rapidly  as  possible. 
When  there  is  added  to  all  other  delays  public  indifference 
and  inertia,  then  city  planning  becomes  a  long,  hard, 
expensive  struggle  for  which,  in  the  end,  the  taxpayer 
foots  the  bills.  He  plays  against  himself  and  cheats 
himself  in  the  bargain. 

If  the  situation  were  not  so  serious,  the  time  it  takes 
to  realize  any  public  construction  project  in  America 
would  be  a  joke,  but  it  is  no  laughing  matter.  A  gentle- 
man in  a  neighboring  city  told  me  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Public  Library  Board  that,  for  seventeen  years,  had 
been  trying  to  get  a  new  building  and  which  only  then 
was  nearing  completion.  No  wonder  the  people  grow 
discouraged  or  look  with  apathy  and  suspicion  on  pro- 
posed new  improvement  projects.  Most  of  them  expect 
to  die  long  before  a  shovel  of  dirt  is  turned  or  a  brick 
laid,  and  they  are  not  greatly  interested  in  who  shall  come 
after  them.  The  average  citizen  will  cheerfully  back 
a  public  improvement  of  which  he  expects  to  enjoy  the 
benefits;  but  it  requires  a  tremendous  amount  of  exer- 
tion to  induce  him  to  pay  for  parks  and  streets  and  build- 
ings for  his  children's  children's  children,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  he  should.  Every  generation  might  easily 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  as  much  city  planning  as  could  be 

135 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

carried  out  in  its  day  if  the  people  would  only  come  to 
realize  this  and  demand  action  by  the  authorities.  H  they 
can  be  convinced  that  a  street  widening-  may  be  secured 
in  two  or  three  years,  including  every  step  of  negotiation 
and  construction,  instead  of  in  five  or  ten  years,  then 
they  will  see  to  it  that  reasonable  haste  is  made. 

The  best  example  that  possibly  could  be  cited  of 
what  may  be  accomplished  when  speeding  up  public  im- 
provements is  recorded  in  the  statement  of  Charles  M. 
Schwab  on  *'Our  Industrial  Victory"  in  winning  the 
war. 

The  Tuckahoe,  a  fifty-five  hundred  ton  cargo  boat  or 
collier  was  built  in  twenty-seven  days.  The  Invincible, 
a  twelve  thousand  ton  vessel,  was  built  in  twenty-four 
days.  The  Crawl  Keyes,  a  thirty-five  hundred  ton  boat 
was  built  in  -a  Great  Lakes  shipyard  in  fourteen  days. 
This  was  a  freighter.  The  Gray's  Harbor  Motor  Ship,  a 
wooden  vessel,  was  built  in  seventeen  and  one-half  days. 

Mr.  Schwab  adds  that: 

Before  the  war  the  Tuckahoe  would  have  taken  a  year 
or  a  year  and  a  half  to  build,  the  Invincible,  nine  months 
or  one  year,  and  the  good  Lord  only  knows  how  long  it 
would  have  taken  to  build  a  wooden  boat. 

In  Chicago  it  is  fifteen  years  since  the  great  plan  for 
Lake  Front  parks  was  first  proposed.  There  are  no  parks 
yet.  It  is  eight  years  since  the  first  step  was  taken  to 
widen  Twelfth  Street.  This  was  only  pardy  finished 
when  our  country  entered  the  war  and  the  work  on  it 
was  practically  stopped.  It  is  ten  years  since  the  north 
extension  of  Michigan  Avenue  was  seriously  proposed 

136 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

and  five  years  since  the  ordinance  for  its  construction 
was  passed.  Yet,  in  the  summer  of  19 18,  this  was  only 
half  accomplished.  In  the  same  year  the  city  became 
engaged  in  building  the  famous  Franklin-Orleans  Street 
bridge,  although  it  had  been  proposed  twenty-two  years 
before  and  periodically  urged  ever  since. 

Apparently  the  best  or  at  least  the  only  way  to  do 
things  in  American  cities  is  to  jam  them  through  regard- 
less of  "custom,  law,  the  pope,  or  the  king,"  if  an  official 
can  be  found  who  is  willing  to  assume  such  tactics  and 
aggressive  methods.  That  is  exactly  what  Michael  J. 
Faherty,  president  of  the  Board  of  Local  Improvements 
in  Chicago  did.  But  for  his  pains  he  earned  only  the 
condemnation  of  many  of  his  associate  authorities  and 
very  little  appreciation  from  the  people.  Some  day 
Chicago  will  realize  that  Faherty  did  a  great  thing  by 
doing,  in  the  quickest  way,  the  right  thing,  even  if  some- 
times contrary  to  prescribed  "proper  procedure."  The 
trouble  with  many  of  our  authorities,  most  of  our  laws, 
and  practically  every  lawyer  is  that  they  are  hide-bound 
with  "proper  procedure."  The  main  thing  is  to  accom- 
plish a  task  —  do  it  according  to  the  proper  code  if 
possible  —  but  if  you  can't,  do  it  anyway.  The  people 
of  Chicago  wanted  the  Plan  projects  recommended  by 
the  Plan  Commission  and  adopted  by  the  City  Council 
carried  out  as  quickly  as  possible  and  Faherty  found  a 
way  to  do  it. 

The  usual  process  is  by  extended  and  expensive  propa- 
ganda by  the  Plan  Commission  to  educate  the  people  and 
arouse  them  to  action.  That  accomplishes  an  instant  and 
willing  response  by  the  people.     Then  the  interminable 

137 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

delays  which  for  various  reasons  beset  the  pathway  of 
every  pubHc  improvement.  Without  Plan  Commission 
aggressiveness  to  keep  the  projects  alive,  a  man  would  be 
bold  indeed  who  would  undertake  to  predict  the  time 
when  a  city  would  get  its  improvements.  Of  course  this 
is  not  applicable  to  Chicago.  It  is  intended  for  the  other 
cities  where  such  conditions  prevail  and  the  picture  will 
hold  true  generally. 

The  benefits  of  city  planning  have  not  been  understood 
in  America;  therefore  little  has  been  accomplished.  The 
laws  under  which  public  improvements  can  be  made  re- 
quiring the  taking  of  private  property,  have  been  based 
upon  limited  theory  and  do  not  fit  great  improvements 
costing  millions  of  dollars.  For  petty  cases  like  alley  and 
street-paving  requirements  they  have  served  fairly  well. 

Imagine  the  utter  absurdity  of  a  law  that  required  the 
city  in  a  street  widening  case,  to  pay  a  property  owner  for 
all  his  property  and  allow  him  to  retain  title  to  the  re- 
mainder where  the  whole  piece  is  not  required.  A  case  of 
this  character  is  on  record  in  the  Chicago  Michigan  Ave- 
nue widening  case,  where  the  city  needed  only  a  portion 
of  a  lot.  Under  the  law  it  paid  for  the  entire  parcel  but 
the  owner  retained  title  to  the  rest.  Within  six  months 
after,  this  owner  sold  the  remaining  piece  for  $266,000, 
which  was  a  far  larger  sum  than  the  entire  lot  was  valued 
at  when  the  case  was  in  court.  His  huge  profit,  due  to 
the  betterment  of  the  thoroughfare,  was  made  on  a  very 
small  piece  of  his  original  holding,  the  majority  of  it 
having  been  taken  by  the  city  for  the  widening. 

As  for  the  property  owner  who  refuses  to  accept  a 
fair  and  full  cash  price  for  his  property  and  fights  to 

138 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

exact  a  big  one  from  the  city,  no  law  will  ever  be  made 
to  eliminate  him,  but  he  will  efface  himself  in  time  by 
experience  with  the  courts.  When  these  experiences  be- 
come known  they  will  help  to  efface  the  rest  of  his  ilk. 
While  the  laws  were  made  in  ignorance  of  real  city 
planning  needs  and  based  somewhat  on  fear  that,  if  the 
property  owner  was  not  over-protected,  public  opinion 
could  not  be  mustered  behind  an  improvement,  a  new 
order  has  obtained  in  cities.  We  have  come  to  learn  that 
the  good  of  the  few  must  give  way  to  the  good  of  the 
many,  just  as  we  learned  in  the  Great  War  that  indi- 
vidual interest  must  give  way  to  national  interests.  In- 
adequate as  the  laws  in  most  states  are,  and  notwith- 
standing they  favor  the  property  owners  rather  than  the 
city  as  an  inducement  to  the  property  owner  to  assist 
in  the  making  of  public  improvements,  it  was  never  in- 
tended that  these  advantages  and  benefits  to  the  private 
individual  should  encourage  him  to  hold  up  the  city,  or 
that,  failing  in  this  he  would  refuse  to  part  with  his 
property  and  fight  the  City  to  the  highest  courts  for  the 
exaggerated  value  he  set  upon  it,  which  meant  also  fight- 
ing the  city  to  keep  it  from  obtaining  the  property.  A 
case  now  more  or  less  celebrated  in  Chicago  occurred  in 
one  of  its  great  street  widening  projects  where  the  court 
appraisers  set  a  value  upon  the  property  based  upon  ex- 
pert survey  of  surrounding  values  and  the  most  recent 
sales.  The  owner  came  into  court  with  an  array  of  ex- 
perts, which  cost  him  $90,000  in  retainers'  fees,  and  at- 
tempted to  show  that  he  should  receive  from  the  city 
four  times  as  much  as  the  court  commissioners'  valuation. 
Meanwhile  the  city,  desiring  to  avoid  long  and  expensive 

139 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

litigation  with  this  single  owner,  offered  him  twenty-five 
per  cent  more  than  the  court  appraisal  for  a  settlement 
out  of  court.  This  was  a  considerable  sum,  amounting  to 
about  $150,000.  It  was  refused  by  the  owner  and  he 
allowed  the  case  to  go  to  trial,  demanding  a  jury  trial. 
It  took  three  months  in  the  hearing,  costing  the  owner 
and  the  city  about  $200,000.  The  jury  evened  things  up 
in  the  fair  interests  of  all  the  people  by  awarding  him  in 
their  valuation  $25,000  less  than  the  original  court  ap- 
praisers had  valued  his  property  at  and  $175,000  less 
than  he  could  have  obtained  from  the  city  in  a  private 
settlement  and  $275,000  less  than  his  entire  loss 
amounted  to,  including  the  fees  of  his  experts  paid 
to  beat  the  city.  This  owner  appealed  his  case  to  the 
Supreme  Court  but  that  tribunal  upheld  the  findings  of 
the  lower  court.  It  will  not  require  many  results  of  this 
kind  from  court  action  in  major  public  improvements  to 
educate  the  grasping  unpublic-spirited  property  owner 
more  rapidly  and  effectively  than  any  amount  of  plead- 
ing, dickering,  and  negotiation  could  possibly  do. 

Sectional  prejudice  is  a  cause  in  some  cities  for  de- 
lays. A  city  plan  has  to  begin  somewhere.  The  common 
sense  place  for  a  beginning  is  where  improvements  affect- 
ing the  most  people  are  worst  needed.  Wisdom  also  dic- 
tates making  them  in  localities  where  values  are  changing 
so  rapidly  as  to  make  needed  improvements  almost  pro- 
hibitive if  delayed  too  long.  Besides  these  reasons,  natu- 
rally the  logical  place  to  begin  the  construction  of  the  plan 
of  the  city  is  at  the  foundation.  In  such  matters  the 
citizens  must  be  broad,  and  they  usually  are.  They  must 
realize  the  need  of  the  whole  city  first  and  of  local  sec- 

140 


.^ 


^% 


>.>\>^* 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

tions  second.  In  all  things  relating  to  the  welfare  of  the 
city  where  the  vote  of  the  people  is  necessary,  the  citizens 
usually  take  a  progressive  stand.  The  fault  is  that  they 
do  not  take  the  proper  initiative  in  making  their  position 
known  to  their  representatives  in  public  office. 

The  fact  is,  we  elect  our  public  officials  without  de- 
termining, in  the  first  instance,  whether  they  are  fit  for 
the  public  duties  to  which  they  aspire,  and,  in  the  second 
instance,  when  they  are  elected,  we  turn  them  loose  and 
forget  all  about  them.  Everything  has  its  day  and  even- 
tually the  public  official  who  ignores  the  expressed  will 
of  the  people  comes  to  grief. 

A  better  day  is  dawning  for  some  phases  of  city 
planning.  Citizens  whose  property  is  directly  affected 
are  beginning  to  learn  that  cooperation  and  not  opposi- 
tion is  the  sensible  and  economic  course  to  pursue.  Usu- 
ally, in  the  past,  groups  of  owners  have  been  organized 
to  fight  the  Plan,  but  they  have  learned  that  locking 
horns  with  the  city  authorities  results  only  in  delay  and 
increased  expense  to  both  parties.  The  only  quick, 
efficient  and  mutually  satisfactory  course  is  for  the  prop- 
erty owners  to  organize  in  advance  in  order  to  cooperate 
with  the  city  and  the  Plan  Commission.  Only  highly 
beneficial  results  to  both  sides  can  result  from  such  a 
relationship. 

There  were  many  examples  of  the  unwise  reversal  of 
this  policy  in  the  famous  Twelfth  Street  widening  and 
Michigan  Avenue  extension  improvements  in  Chicago. 
One  of  the  best  examples  of  dispatch  in  modern-day  city 
planning  relates  to  a  public  improvement  in  Buenos 
Aires.     That  proud  and  beautiful  city,  known  as  the 

141 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

*'  Paris  of  South  America,"  was,  on  occasion,  to  enter- 
tain an  international  conclave.  With  all  of  the  city's 
beautiful  development,  it  was  not  proud  of  a  certain 
squalid  area  near  the  center  of  the  city.  Buenos  Aires 
determined  to  correct  this  fault  so  that  it  would  not  offend 
the  eyes  of  its  visitors  from  all  over  the  world.  The  city 
went  at  the  task  with  a  will  and  in  ninety  days  several 
blocks  of  property  had  been  condemned,  the  buildings 
removed,  the  space  graded  and  the  entire  area  planted  to 
grass,  shrubs,  and  trees.  When  the  visitors  arrived  they 
saw  a  fine  park  surrounding  an  imposing  building. 

The  people  of  Buenos  Aires  looked  upon  their  city  as 
their  larger  home.  They  were  about  to  entertain  com- 
pany and  they  wanted  their  guests  to  have  the  best 
possible  impression  of  their  city.  This  idea  would  be  an 
excellent  angle  from  which  to  proceed  in  America, 
although  a  well-ordered  home  should  be  a  matter  of  cul- 
ture and  not  of  pretense. 

In  the  trial  of  the  condemnation  suits  of  Michigan 
Avenue  and  Twelfth  Street,  Chicago  was  fortunate  that 
its  legal  interests  were  in  charge  of  a  lawyer  of  exceptional 
legal  acumen  as  well  as  high-mindedness  for  his  city's 
welfare.  This  was  Eugene  H.  Dupee,  special  counsel  of 
the  Board  of  Local  Improvements.  Mr.  Dupee  is  not  only 
a  gifted  lawyer  especially  trained  in  the  condemnation 
branch  of  the  law,  but  he  comes  from  one  of  Chicago's 
fine  old  families.  Dupee  had  the  best  sort  of  heritage 
for  city  planning  inspiration,  besides  having  been  es- 
pecially assigned  to  work  on  the  Plan  of  Chicago  for  the 
city  from  its  very  inception.  His  knowledge  of  proce- 
dure was  exact  and  complete. 

142 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

The  laws  under  which  public  improvements  are  made 
differ  in  each  state,  but  the  Illinois  Local  Improvement 
Act  is  generally  conceded  to  be  the  best  measure  of  its 
kind  yet  enacted  in  this  country.  At  that  it  is  cumber- 
some and  the  cause  of  much  unnecessary  delay. 

Indicative  of  the  almost  universal  difficulty  and  ex- 
cessive length  of  time  required  in  making  public  im- 
provements in  any  American  city,  let  us  trace  from  begin- 
ning to  end  the  procedure  which  must  be  followed  in 
Chicago. 

In  the  first  place,  under  the  state  law  all  improvements 
are  either  "  local  "  or  "  general."  A  local  improvement  is 
one  mainly  benefiting  a  specific  adjacent  locality,  and  can 
be  paid  for  in  whole  or  in  part  by  special  assessments 
upon  benefited  property.  A  general  improvement  —  one 
of  benefit  to  the  entire  city  —  must  be  paid  for  out  of  the 
city's  general  funds  or  through  a  bond  issue. 

Two  restrictions  affect  the  issuance  of  bonds.  The 
first  is  the  small  limit  —  five  per  cent  of  the  assessed 
value  —  placed  upon  the  city's  borrowing  power  by  the 
state  legislature.  The  second  is  the  need  for  a  majority 
vote  on  such  bond  issue  at  an  election.  In  the  case  of 
local  improvements,  where  only  part  of  the  cost  is  ob- 
tained by  special  assessment,  the  city's  share  for  public 
benefit  must  be  secured  through  a  bond  issue. 

General  improvements  are  made  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works,  while  local  im- 
provements come  within  the  authority  of  the  Board  of 
Local  Improvements.  In  Chicago  this  board  consists  of 
five  members,  appointed  by  the  mayor  and  the  City 
Council. 

143 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Suggestions  for  local  improvements  may  be  made  by 
property  owners  to  this  board,  or  the  board  can  itself 
begin  proceedings  for  the  making  of  such  improvements. 
The  first  step  is  the  adoption  by  the  board  of  a  resolution 
describing  the  proposed  improvement.  This  description 
must  note  any  private  property  to  be  taken  or  damaged 
and  must  include  an  estimate  of  cost.  The  size,  character, 
and  location  of  such  an  improvement  determines  the 
length  of  time  required  for  the  preparation  of  this  esti- 
mate and  resolution.  The  time  needed  may  vary  from 
several  months  to  several  years,  as  exemplified  by  the 
Twelfth  Street  and  Michigan  Avenue  improvements. 

The  board's  resolution  must  set  a  date  for  a  pul^lic 
hearing  concerning  such  improvement,  not  less  than  ten 
days  after  the  adoption  of  the  resolution.  Notice  of  such 
improvement  proposal  and  of  such  public  hearing  must 
be  sent  to  the  owner  of  each  lot  fronting  on  such  pro- 
posed improvement.  Frequently  such  notices  are  sent  to 
all  property  owners  in  the  zone  of  assessment  as  well. 
although  that  is  not  required  by  the  law.  These  notices 
must  be  mailed  not  less  than  five  days  before  tlie  date 
of  the  public  hearing.  This  means  a  delay  of  at  least 
half  a  month  between  the  date  of  the  board's  adoption 
of  the  resolution  and  the  date  of  public  hearing. 

At  the  public  hearing  any  citizen  may  appear  and 
speak  either  for  or  against  the  improvement.  Anyone 
has  the  right  to  endorse  or  object  to  either  its  necessity, 
nature,  or  cost.  Here  there  is  a  chance  for  considerable 
delay.  Public  hearings  can  be  continued  from  time  to 
time  over  a  period  of  years  before  the  board  acts  on  any 
suggested  project. 

144 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

Then  after  the  board  reaches  a  favorable  decision, 
thirty  days  must  elapse  before  anything  else  is  done. 
This  time  is  allowed  for  opposing  property  owners  to 
present  objections.  Tf,  during  this  period,  more  than 
half  the  property  owners  along  the  path  of  the  improve- 
ment sign  a  protest  against  it,  no  further  action  can  be 
taken  upon  it  for  one  year. 

After  thirty  days  have  passed  without  a  majority  pro- 
test, the  board  formally  approves  the  improvement.  This 
is  in  the  shape  of  a  recommendation  to  the  City  Council, 
accompanied  by  an  estimate  of  cost  and  an  ordinance 
describing  the  proposed  work  in  all  its  details,  together 
with  the  land  to  be  taken  or  damaged.  The  information 
in  this  ordinance  must  be  so  complete  that  contractors 
can  bid  from  it  for  the  actual  construction  work.  Months 
may  be  required  in  its  drafting,  and  great  care  must  be 
taken,  as  it  cannot  be  amended. 

Even  under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  there  must 
be  considerable  delay  in  the  City  Council.  All  ordinances 
before  they  can  be  acted  upon  must  be  published  in  the 
council  proceedings,  which  causes  at  least  a  week's  delay. 
Most  ordinances  have  to  be  sent  to  some  council  com- 
mittee for  consideration  before  the  council  as  a  whole 
takes  action. 

Here  again  comes  delay.  All  proposed  improvements 
are  open  to  full  public  inspection  and  consideration  before 
such  council  committee.  This  involves  more  public  hear- 
ings, more  debates,  more  objections,  more  delays.  Fre- 
quently changes  are  ordered,  and- this  causes  additional 
delay.  At  these  council  committee  hearings  any  citizen 
may  be  heard  at  length,  either  for  or  against  the  project. 

145 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Some  public  improvements  have  been  held  up  for  years 
before  action  was  had  by  council  committees. 

After  favorable  action  by  the  committee,  indefinite 
delay  is  possible  if  the  City  Council  does  not  give  prompt 
consideration  to  the  ordinance,  or  if  it  again  refers  it  to 
a  committee  for  changes  suggested  by  any  of  its  seventy 
members.  Or  it  may  refer  it  to  another  council  commit- 
tee, whose  interests  might  also  be  affected,  where  the 
same  tedious  procedure  must  be  repeated. 

The  mayor  becomes  the  next  factor  in  an  improve- 
ment ordinance,  having  the  power  either  to  veto  or 
approve  it. 

As  the  next  step,  the  city  files  a  petition  in  court,  asking 
the  court  to  determine  the  just  amounts  which  the  city 
should  pay  the  owners  for  propert)^  taken  or  damaged. 
The  court  is  asked  also  to  determine  what  property  will 
be  benefited,  and  the  amount  of  such  benefit  to  each 
owner. 

Two  commissioners,  appointed  by  the  court,  act  with 
the  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Local  Improvements  to 
determine  the  value  of  land  and  buildings,  and  the 
amounts  of  damages  or  benefits,  as  well  as  to  select  the 
area  that  will  be  benefited  and  apportion  the  exact  amount 
of  benefit  to  each  piece  of  property  in  the  zone  of  assess- 
ment. 

This  court  commissioner  method  often  unnecessarily 
delays  public  improvements,  as  the  longer  the  commis- 
sioners take  to  prepare  their  report  the  greater  their  finan- 
cial reward.  Even  at  best  it  is  a  big  task  to  determine 
the  value  of  several  hundred  pieces  of  property,  to  decide 
the  exact  amount  each  piece  is  injured  or  benefited,  and 

146 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

to  value  all  buildings,  machinery,  and  other  fixtures, 
to  say  nothing  of  leaseholds  and  the  like.  Their  report 
must  describe  each  piece  of  property,  name  its  owners, 
and  fix  the  amount  it  will  be  damaged  or  benefited  by  the 
proposed  improvement.  This  report  must  be  accom- 
panied by  an  affidavit  certifying  the  correctness  of  the 
names  of  property  owners  and  other  details.  The  time 
required  for  its  preparation  as  well  as  for  the  complet- 
ing of  the  commissioners'  report,  depends  on  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  improvement.  In  case  only  a  part  of 
the  cost  is  to  be  borne  by  special  assessment,  it  is  like- 
wise the  duty  of  these  commissioners  to  determine  the 
exact  amount  of  public  benefit  and  of  local  benefit. 

Opportunity  for  still  more  delay  is  afforded  in  the 
projects  involving  a  public  benefit.  It  is  then  necessary 
for  the  City  Council  to  pass  an  ordinance  directing  the 
election  commissioners  to  place  the  bond  issue  question 
upon  the  ballot  at  the  next  election,  which  may  be  close 
at  hand  or  months  away.  Refusal  of  the  voters  to  au- 
thorize the  issue  would  then  necessitate  the  question  being 
placed  before  the  public  again  at  a  subsequent  election, 
if  the  project  is  not  to  be  abandoned  entirely. 

When  the  report  of  the  court  commissioners  is  filed 
in  court  all  property  owners  affected  are  notified.  The 
court  summons  is  not  returnable  in  less  than  fifteen  days 
after  date  of  issue  and  service  and  if  the  commissioners' 
report  shows  that  non-resident  property  owners  are 
affected,  a  notice  of  the  pendency  of  such  court  proceed- 
ings must  be  published  once  a  week  for  four  consecu- 
tive weeks,  the  first  publication  to  be  at  least  thirty  days 
before  the  date  set  for  the  returji  of  such  summons.  Non- 
147 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

residents  must  also  be  notified  of  the  court  proceedings 
by  mail  at  least  fifteen  days  prior  to  the  return  date. 

Property  owners  can  have  their  attorneys  appear  in 
court  and  object  to  the  right  of  the  city  to  make  the  imi- 
provement  under  the  law,  and  to  the  amount  of  their 
assessment  or  award  for  damages.  The  Illinois  law 
gives  extreme  latitude  to  objectors,  and  in  most  cases 
the  hearing  on  legal  objections  is  the  crucial  test  that 
determines  whether  the  case  shall  survive  or  perish 
through  legal  technicalities.  The  time  required  to  estab- 
lish the  city's  legal  right  to  make  the  improvement  may 
extend  into  a  period  of  a  year  or  more,  depending  upon 
the  number,  nature,  and  vigor  of  the  objectors.  Final 
decision  as  to  legality  rests  in  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  point  of  legality  established,  the  second  part  of 
the  court  proceedings  commences  —  the  determination  by 
a  jury  of  the  justness  of  the  amounts  of  damages  and 
benefits  fixed  by  the  court  commissioners.  Two  weeks 
must  pass  between  the  notification  of  the  property  owners 
and  the  beginning  of  the  actual  trial.  Indefinite  delay 
is  possible  here,  depending  upon  the  objectors,  although 
it  is  possible  to  materially  shorten  the  time  by  mutual 
agreement  of  the  property  owners  to  abide  by  the  decision 
of  the  court  and  not  submit  their  cases  to  the  jury. 

Each  piece  of  property  must  be  tried  separately,  and 
when  eight  or  ten  thousand  pieces  of  property  are  affected 
by  an  improvement,  even  under  the  most  favorable  cir- 
cumstances rapid  progress  is  almost  impossible. 

Like  all  other  legal  proceedings,  the  decision  of  the 
trial  court  is  not  final  as  to  the  money  involved,  and  dis- 
satisfied owners  may  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court.  Ad- 
•       ^   i,)S 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  HASTE 

ditional  delay,  however,  is  not  caused  even  in  case  the 
Supreme  Court  does  not  uphold  the' lower  court's  deci- 
sion, or  returns  the  appealed  case  for  retrial.  All  that 
the  city  must  do  is  to  make  provision  for  paying  what- 
ever amount  the  Supreme  Court  may  finally  determine 
should  be  given  the  property  owners. 

After  the  verdict  is  rendered  by  the  trial  court  the 
city  has  ninety  days  within  which  to  file  its  written  elec- 
tion to  proceed  with  the  improvement. 

During  these  proceedings  another  possibility  of  delay 
exists  in  the  contingency  of  an  error  being  made  in  the 
ordinance  or  description  of  the  property  to  be  taken. 
Such  an  error  may  be  vital,  and  no  matter  how  far  the 
proceedings  may  have  advanced,  the  entire  case  must 
be  abandoned  and  a  new  start  made  from  the  very  begin- 
ning. As  the  Supreme  Court  can  be  appealed  to  on  the 
point  of  error,  it  is  plain  that  there  may  be  an  unnec- 
essary but  extended  delay  in  procedure  from  this  cause. 

The  last  stage  before  actual  construction  can  begin  is 
the  collection  by  the  city  of  the  assessments  for  benefits, 
and  the  payment  of  the  awards  for  damages.  Before 
the  city  can  take  a  single  piece  of  property  for  public 
use,  the  owner  must  be  paid  the  amount  awarded  him 
in  the  condemnation  trial.  Then  comes  the  bidding  by 
contractors,  and  the  letting  of  the  contract  to  the  lowest 
bidder,  but  even  so  the  possibility  of  delay  still  remains, 
and  is  so  prevalent  in  construction  work  on  public  im- 
provements that  it  needs  no  elaboration.  However,  the 
Plan  Commission's  responsibility  ceases  once  the  con- 
tracts for  construction  work  have  been  let,  and  it  is  free 
to  turn  its  attention  to  other  phases  of  its  general  plan. 

149 


CHAPTER  XI 

CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS CRADLE  OF  THE 

i\  -tW  CH^      +K^-^  *^^k^  GREATEST  PLAN 


tsof '  r '  ^^  HICAGO  —  Who  can  describe  it  ?  Many  have  tried 
V^  —  some  with  honest  desire  to  do  it  justice ;  others 
with  mahcious  desire  to  do  it  harm.  All  have  failed. 
No  one,  with  intentions  honest  or  otherwise  can  ade- 
c^uately  describe  Chicago.  It  is  also  a  certainty  that  no 
one  wishing  to  malign  the  fifth  city  of  the  world  can 
successfully  do  so.  No  city  in  all  the  world  is  more 
talked  about  than  Chicago;  none  is  less  understood,  less 
intimately  known  by  the  outsider.  Hence,  if  any  com- 
prehensive description  of  the  mighty  municipal  giant  of 
the  twentieth  century  is  given,  it  must  emanate  from 
within  its  own  borders. 

Perhaps  no  city  in  America  has  been  more  abused, 
scoffed  at,  ridiculed,  and  praised  than  Chicago.  The 
motives  of  these  expressions  have  actuated  from  jeal- 
ous hearts,  biased  souls,  prejudiced  minds,  and  honest 
pens. 

In  discussing  cities,  the  difficulty  of  avoiding  writing 
a  history  or  compiling  a  Baedeker  or  borrowing  too  ex- 
tensively from  the  figures  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
confronts  every  author.  On  the  other  hand,  many  writ- 
ers are  inadequate  in  their  descriptions,  preferring  to 
give  merely  their  impressions  of  various  phases  of  the 

150 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

city's  life,  or  to  confine  themselves  to  an  epitomization 
which  falls  far  short  of  a  real  description  of  the  causes, 
the  peoples,  and  the  conditions  whiclijiiake  the  city. 

Tnconsidering  these  things  which  must,  of  necessity, 
form  the  background  of  any  comprehensive  description 
of  Chicago,  as  of  any  city  —  location,  transportation,  in- 
dustry, surrounding  natural  resources,  possibilities  for 
expansion,  physical  development  and  population  char- 
acter and  analysis  —  I  desire  principally  to  dwell  upon 
conditions,  people,  institutions  —  those  things  which  are 
intimate  to  the  real  spirit  and  maintenance  of  the  heart- 
throb of  the  city.  Something  of  the  cultural,  the  educa- 
tional, and  the  philanthropic,  we  will  blend  with  the 
industrial_dgvelopment  and  the^atural^ad vantages  which 
have  made  Chicago  ajiying,  rustling  reality  in  the  w;orld 
of  bigness,  where' peoptie  and  things  are  the  chief  ele- 
ments of  progress  or  retrogression. 

The  organized  life  of  Chicago  and  the  spirit  of  thg. 
men  behind  it  will  have  prominent  part  in  this  narrative. 

A  few  days  before  Dani^ljludson  Burnham  sailed  for 
Europe  in  19 12,  from  which  the  Grim  Reaper  destined 
he  should  never  return,  he  stood  surveying  Michigan 
Avenue  and  the  lake  from  his  studio  window.  The  great 
architect,  organizer,  and  city  planner  was  in  a  reminiscent 
mood.  I'\vas  his  only  auditor.  After  the  considerable 
silence  which  had  fallen  upon  us,  he  turned  suddenly 
away  from  the  window  and  remarked,  "  What  a  wonder- 
ful lot  of  men  Chicago  has ;  nothing  remains  to  be  accom- 
plished that  cannot  be  done  with  our  Chicago  men  as  the 
power  behind."  Rapidly  he  named  and  characterized 
those  in  his  mind  whom  he  designated  as  "  real  forces  in 

i.Si 


^^  ^  WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

^the  city's  life  and  development/'    But  history  is  not  being 
written  here  and  revelations  cannot  be  made. 

"Wonderful  men!"  A.  city  possessed  of  wonderful 
men  —  what  is  such  a  city?  What  can  such  a  city 
become  ? 

Every  city  has  its  rich  men  who  die  and  bequeath  to 
the  city  moneys,  art  treasures,  or  products  of  historical 
research  of  various  and  valuable  kinds.  Some  few  do 
.  these  things  during  their  lifetime.  Chicago  men  do  not 
die  to  serve  their  city  and  the  benevolent  acts  of  the 
living  are  not  confined  to  a  few.  Scores  of  cap- 
tains of  industry,  finance,  and  commerce  take  from 
their  bus^liyes  and  accumulated  wealth,  money  and 
what  is  infinitely  more  valuable  still,  time,  and  these 
they  devote  without  stint  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
city.  Every  avenue  of  true  uplift  —  education,  music, 
art,  literature,  civics,  and  philanthropy  —  has  felt  fhe 
touch  of  living  men  wfio  regar^d  their  city  as  their  larger 
Iiome,  who  feel  they  have  a  proprietary  interest  in  it,  who 
clo  for  their  city  what  they  do  for  their  individual  homes, 
surround  it  and  fill  it  with  things  of  beauty  and  attrac- 
tiveness,  in  a  word,  good  order  6f  the  soul-ancWDrauTsortj 
Such  devotion,  I  believe,  is  more  marked  in  Chicago  than 
in  any  other  city  in  the  world. 

The  women  of  Chicago,  too,  have  a  proud  place  in 
the  city's  life  and  making.  There,  now  I  have  the  ex- 
pression I  have  been  groping  for  —  something  that  fits 
Chicago  exactly  —  a  great  city  in  the  making.  This  is 
almost  a  paradox,  but  it  is  literally  true,  and  it  differ- 
entiates Chicago  from  all  other  great  centers.  These, 
the  traveler  regards  as  having  "arrived,"  or  as  being 

152 


ORIGINAL   OWNED    BY  THE   CHICAGO   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Chicago.     Soutli   Water   Street,    1834. 


ORIGINAL  OWNED   BY  THE  CHICAQO  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 


Chicago  in  1845  from  the  west.     Population  12,088. 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

established,  permanent,  settled  or  what  you  will;  but 
Chicago  impresses  even  its  own  people  —  nay,  inoculates 
them  —  with  the  thought  that  although  already  great 
and  impressive,  the  city  is  constantly  "  arriving." 

A  Chicagoan,  in  a  one-sided,  half-interpreted,  shorn-of- 
soul^  but  true-in-part  Chicago  poem,  almost  too  roughly 
expressed  it  as  a  city  "  laughing  under  the  terrible  burden 
of  destiny,  laughing  as  a  young  man  laughs;  laughing 
the  stormy,  husky  laughter  of  youth  half  naked,  sweating 
and  proud  of  its  big  shoulders  —  to  be  the  tall  slugger 
set  vivid  against  the  little,  soft  cities." 

The  women  of  Chicago  did  not  wait  for  the  franchise 
(it  came  to  them  in  191 2)  before  taking  a  big  and  active 
part  in  the  city's  welfare.  The  Chicago  Woman's  Club 
is  one  of  the  finest  and  most  aggre^si^v^ag^enclerorcmc 
good  in  America.  From  this  admirable  organization  of 
splendid  women  radiate  many  other  women's  clubs  and 
societies  of  decided  influence,  initiative,  and  accomplish- 
ment in  the  city's  progress. 

At  the  close  of  1918  a  plan  was  being  projected  which 
showed  marked  evidence  of  early  consummation  that  will 
provide  the  women's  clubs  of  Chicago  with  a  woman's 
town  meeting  house,  to  contain  a  memorial  to  a  most 
distinguished  Chicagoan  and  one  of  the  nation's  fore- 
most women  citizens,  Ella  Flagg  Young  ( deceased) .  This 
is  to  be  the  largest  building  in  the  country  devoted  exclu- 
sively to  the  interests  of  women  —  a  meeting  place  for 
all  those  interested  in  civic  betterment.  It  is  to  be  known 
as  the  Woman's  Civic  Building  and  is  to  be  erected  by 
the  Chicago  Woman's  Club  on  a  site  already  purchased. 

Chicago  boasts  of  the  possession  of  "  America's  only 

153 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

newspaper  for  women"  —  The  Women's  Press  —  a 
highly  constructive,  voluminous,  and  ably  edited  news- 
paper published  in  the  interest  of  all  women. 

Twenty  years  ago  transcontinental  travelers  called 
Chicago  a  "one  hotel  town."  More  recently  an  individ- 
ual of  the  type  who  sits  on  one  ear  while  fanning  him- 
self with  the  other  and  who  had  never  been  one  hundred 
miles  away  from  home,  came  out  from  the  East  and 
described  Chicago  as  a  "  one  street  town."  Still  another 
interesting  and  facetious  author,  in  a  survey  of  the 
United  States,  devoted  an  entire  chapter  about  Chicago 
to  describing  one  of  the  city's  notorious  aldermen.  His 
paint  was  not  all  black,  neither  is  the  alderman.  Now 
and  then  someone  comes  to  Chicago  and  goes  away  and 
wTites  about  it  dramatically  and  sincerely  as  the  subject 
deserves.  Now  and  then,  on  occasion,  the  city  —  the 
"melting  pot"  of  the  nation — is  portrayed  in  terms 
other  than  as  a  mere  description  of  the  Stock  Yards  and 
-the  windiness  of  its  inhabitants. 

The  standard  method  of  describing  cities  is  to  quote 
volubly  from  the  statistics  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
enumerating  the  things  in  which  the  city  leads  the  world. 
Every  city  leads  the  world  in  something.  H  it  doesn't, 
it  is  a  despicable  place  indeed  and  it  has  no  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

Who  would  think  of  London,  Berlin,  Paris,  or  New 
York  in  the  term.s  of  their  respective  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce? Why  attempt  anything  so  provincial  in  discuss- 
ing Chicago? 

The  mere  fact  that  in  1916  Chicago  manufactories 
numbered   ten   thousand;    their   finished   products   w^ere 

154 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

valued  at  two  billions ;  and  furnished  work  for  three  hun- 
dred thousand  wage  earners  who  were  paid  two  hundred 
million  dollars  —  tells  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  story. 

Everybody  knows  that  smokestacks,  freight  cars,  trans- 
portation,  and  strategic  geographic  location  make  the  higj 
city.     EverybodyTmows  that  these  are  unrivaled  cham- 
pions of  Chicago's  greatness. 

What  added  value  is  there  in  proclaiming  the  world's 
fifth  city  as  the  world's  first  city  in  live  stock,  in  cement, 
in  clothing,  and  in  food  production?  These  and  like 
statistics  are  self-evident  facts. 

It  is  of  consequence,  to  be  sure,  but  why  dwell  on  Chi- 
cago's first  rank  in  grain  and  flour  receipts?  Its  world's 
largest  iron^  steel,  and  machinery  warehouse  is  interest- 
ing. Its  unexcelled  sixty-two  mile  electric  subterranean 
freight  system  is  important.  The  vast  output  of  its  iron 
mills  is  significant.  Its  largest  open  stocks  of  merchan- 
dise are  of  great  value  commercially. 

Chicago's  dutiable  imports  in  191 5  amounted  to  $17,- 
-37'3i6.  The  duties  paid  were  $6,084,152  —  free  of 
duty,  $9,706,914.  The  value  of  merchandise  exported 
directly  from  its  port  the  same  year  was  $3,965,755. 

Chicago  has  335,350  buildings;  38,406  firms,  10,114 
manufacturers,  employing  452,202  persons,  to  whom  is 
paid  an  annual  wage  of  $303,630,000.  Their  annual 
products  are  valued  at  $1,482,814,000.  Impressive  facts, 
these. 

But  these  assets,  important  as  they  are,  naturally  fol- 
lowed in  the  wake  of  superior  transportation  facilities, 
and  superior  transportation  facilities  are  the  result  of 
fortunate  geographic  location. 

155 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY?     • 

Just  as  man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone,  the  meas- 
ure of    THE    city's    true    GREATNESS    IS    TOLd'^[N~ITS~ 
HEARTJ.IFE.  ~"  ^^  "  " 

The  fact  that  Chicago  is  the  leading  convention  city 
of  the  American  continent  is  infinitely  more  pertinent 
than  all  its  material  blessings  in  determining  its  heart- 
beats. Whole-hearted  hospitality,  climate,  things  that 
make  life  worth  living  in  a  great  city,  are  the  magnets 
which,  in  ever-increasing  numbers,  cause  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  Americans  to  make  annual  pilgrimages  to 
Chicago  —  their  favorite  convention  city. 

Chicago  does  not  possess  the  glamour  of  New  York. 
Blindfold  a  man,  set  him  down  in  London;  instinctively 
he  knows  he  is  in  the  world's  metropolis.  Paris  charms 
the  traveler  with  its  beauty  of  surroundings,  art,  history, 
and  romance;  Berlin  appalls  one  with  her  solidity,  mas- 
siveness,  and  daring  physical  achievements ;  Chicago, 
possessing  all  these  in  unpronounced  but  noteworthy 
degree,  also  possesses  what  these  other  cities  have  not — • 
true  happiness  born  of  friendliness,  neighborliness,  and 
kindred  spirit. 

People  visit  New  York  for  a  fortnight  but  they  grow 
weary  for  their  "home  town." 

Travelers  revel  in  London's  antiquity,  research,  and 
cosmopolitan  glamour  but  they  do  not  tarry  there  long. 

Tourists  are  fascinated  with  gay,  lovely,  careless  Paris, 
but  they  do  not  remain. 

Wayfarers  are  amazed  and  admire  Berlin's  vigor'^and 
magnitude,  but  they  go  on. 

"Folks"  arrive  in  Chicago,  find  all  the  advantages  of 
the  great  city  and  finding  also  what  is  of  far  greater 
^"■'"~"  156 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 


value  — human  interestV-they  send  for  their  famiHes 
and  become  permanent  residents,  Hving  in  contented 
prosperity. 

The  thing  Chicago  hates  the  most  is  the  sel {-con- 
stituted paternaHsm  of  the  East.  Chicago  has  its  faults 
and  they  are  many  and  glaring,  but  it  is  not  effete.  The 
thing  Chicago  resents  is  expressed  in  the  statement  of  a 
well-known  scribe : 

Under  all  the  jauntiness  and  cocksureness,  the  West 
is  extremely  sensitive  to  criticism.  It  lacks  admiration 
and  expects  the  eastern  visitor  to  be  properly  impressed 
by  its  achievements,  its  prodigious  energy,  its  interpreta- 
tion of  democracy,  and  the  earnestness  with  which  it 
interests  itself  with  the  things  of  spirit.  Above  all  else, 
it  does  not  like  to  appear  absurd. 

And  listen  to  this  from  the  same  source:  "Accord- 
ing to  its  light,  it  intends  to  do  the  right  thing  but  it  yields 
to  laughter  much  more  quickly  than  abuse  if  the  means 
to  that  end  are  challenged." 

Could  anything  be  more  crude  or  patronizing?  No 
one  holds  a  brief  to  speak  in  defense  of  Chicago.  The 
people  of  the  West  are  not  the  product  of  isolated,  geo- 
graphic boundaries. 

In  1906  a  noted  clergyman  of  Oklahoma  City  —  then 
a  city  of  eighty  thousand  which,  two  decades  before,  had 
been  a  mere  dot  on  the  map  —  told  me,  at  the  close  of  the 
Sunday  service  which  I  attended  in  his  church,  that  the 
preceding  Sunday  he  had  admitted  to  membership  in  his 
church  twenty-two  people  from  eighteen  different  states. 
Verily,  the  spirit  of  the  West  is  the  spirit  of  the  United 
States  and  not  of  an  isolated  section. 

157 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

As  for  "criticism"'  and  "admiration,"  the  people  of 
the  West  are  sensible  and,  being  sensible,  they  are  like-^ 
Avise  busy  —  pastimes  which  do  not  admit  of  overmuch 
concern  or  pique  at  the  superficiality  of  "eastern"  critics. 
A  busy  city,  like  a  busy  man,  overrides  these  things  with 
aggressive  zeal,  concentrating  its  efforts  on  its  own 
affairs. 

Why  the  people  of  the  West  should  "yield"  to  either 
"abuse"  or  "laughter"  is  a  question  to  be  answered  by 
the  outsider — the  idle,  misguided  pharisaic  busy-body. 

Right-minded  people  neither  laugh  at  nor  abuse  merit 

or  industry.  These  are  the  measure  and  the  result  of  true 

culture.      Laughter   and   abuse   are  the   companions   of 

thoughtlessness,    carelessness,    pique,    jealousy,    chagrin, 

^egotism,  and  self-righteousness.  ~" 

Chicago  is  western  and  thanks  God  for  it.  Chicago 
is  established  and  concerns  not  itself  with  sensitiveness, 
laughter,  abuse,  or  criticism.  Chicago  has  no  interpre- 
tation of  democracy  because  true  democracy  is  an  expres- 
sion of  the  will  and  the  spirit  of  "regular  people." 
Chicago's  citizens  are  "regular_people." 

One  of  Chicago's  own  sons,  in  his  book  about  Chi- 
cago—  like  a  grandmother  seated  in  her  comfortable. 
rocker  with  her  numerous  grandchildren  gathered  about 
her,  exuding  an  aroma  of  mothballs  and  peppermint  — 
laments  the  good  old  days  that  are  gone,  but  praises  the 
fact  that  Chicago's  strenuousness  is  held  in  leash  by  its 
founders  —  vintage  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  —  and  that  its 
"  New  England  conscience  "  is  the  leavening  factor  con- 
trolling the  destiny  of  nearly  three  million  people  of 
seventy-five  languages. 

158 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

In  the  making  of  a  country  like  America,  are  we  not 
helped  as  much  by  the  things  we  forget  as  by  the  things 
we  remember?  Is  it  not  expedient,  just,  and  wise  to 
think  of  our  country  and  all  elements  in  it  as  the  single 
fabric  of  many  weavers,  made  from  many  materials  into 
a  wonderful  whole  pattern  ? 

Having  an  English  father  and  a  French  mother,  and 
as  one  who  has  helped  Chicago  on  its  upward  path  to 
glory  as  a  city,  I  like  to  think  of  magnificent  Chicago  — 
today  the  admiration  of  the  entire  world;  with  three- 
fifths  of  its  citizens  either  foreign  born  or  of  direct  for- 
eign extraction,  including  all  the  _mtionalities  of  the 
world  —  as  the  truest  expression  of  real  Americanism. 

If  the  work  of  Americanization  is  to  have  full  swing 
and  accomplish  its  altogether  desirable  purpose,  there 
must  not  only  be  no  more  room  for  the  hyphen,  but  along 
with  its  elimination  should  go  all  barriers  to  unity,  justice, 
and  neutralization.  Societies  of  whatsoever  character  or 
name  which  are  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  preserving 
racial  traditions  and  characteristics  must  all  be  classed 
with  the  hyphenated  organization  if  real  and  permanent 
good  is  to  follow.       Cl^iCk^Q  Va|  ^^\  of-jriAvi^    J 

If  the  "  melting  pot "  is  to  melt,  the  all-consuming  fires 
of  assimilation  and  neutralization  must  be  allowed  to  do 
their  work  unhampered  by  the  embers  of  self-asserted  _; 
native  priority  and  foreign  nationalistic  pampering  from 
any  source  whatever.  From  all  these  the  nation  must 
forever  be  w^eaned. 

~  Chicago  was  well  founded  and  we  owe  much  to  and 
should  be  ever  grateful  for  the  "  New  England  con- 
science "  but  the  people  who  have  made  Chicago  a  great 

159 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

city  and  who  have  maintained  it  and  brought  it  to  its 
present  magnificent  place  in  the  galaxy  of  metropolitan 
and  cosmopolitan  cities  —  those  who  will  urge  it  on  to 
its  inevitable  splendid  destiny  —  are  its  Lithuanians  and 
Russians,  its  Slavs  and  Italians,  its  Swedes  and  Greeks, 
its  Armenians  and  Servians,  its  Roumanians  and  Aus- 
trians,  its  Germans  and  Poles,  its  New  Englanders  and 
Irish,  and  a  host  of  others  —  all  good  people,  all  x\mer- 
icans,  and  all  for  city  and  country. 

Arnold  Bennett,  in  an  article  published  in  a  Chicago 
newspaper  in  July,  191 8,  simultaneously  with  the  first 
real  Franco-American  victory  against  the  Germans  when 
they  were  driven  back  across  the  Marne,  said  on  the 
subject : 

A  world  league  of  nations  only  can  avoid  a  new  war 
and  the  destruction  of  civilization.  Either  there  will  be 
such  a  league  with  full  and  real  power  over  all  armament, 
or  there  will  be  another  war  a  thousand  times  worse  than 
this  war.  Either  there  will  be  such  a  league  or  civiliza- 
tion as  we  know  it  will  come  to  an  end  and  the  remnants 
of  mankind  have  to  begin  civilization  all  over  again  as 
they  did  after  the  great  cataclysms  of  the  past. 

_The  same  urge  that  besets  the  natioiis^confronts  the 
United  States.  The  preservation  of  our  national^  cliar- 
actei*,  and  a  complete  unification  of  our  citizenry  makes 
miperative  a  good  and  true  valuation  of  all  its  fixed  ele- 
ments. The  naturalization  of  foreigners,  of  which  our 
country  has  about  thirty  million,  embracing  thirty-seven 
nationalities  and  seventy-five  languages,  can  be  depended 
upon  to  weave  its  own  part  in  an  intelligent  national 
program. 

160 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

Governor  Lowden  of  Illinois,  speaking  at  the  Swedish 
Old  People's  outing  at  Evanston,  July  21,  1918,  said: 

Through  the  fusion  of  races,  democracy  will  crush 
autocracy  and  after  the  war  an  everlasting  peace  will 

rule  the  world Only  this  morning  I  looked  over 

a  casualty  list  and  I  found  that,  while  there  were  ten 
names  on  that  immortal  roll  all  hailing  from  Illinois,  those 
ten  names  represented  seven  nationalities.  When  I  saw 
that  list  I  knew  that  whatever  foreboding  we  might  have 
had  in  the  past  that  our  people  have  not  been  cemented 
into  one  people,  into  one  nation,  those  forebodings  were 
forever  silenced  by  that  immortal  list  of  ten  patriots 
representing  seven  original  nationalities. 

During  the  days  that  followed,  when  the  reports  of 
casualties  of  Chicago's  heroes  reached  the  city,  the  Honor 
Roll  showed  no  deviation  from  the  statement  made  by 
Governor  Lowden.  Each  list  received  showed  mute  evi- 
dence of  the  patriotism  and  the  proportion  of  foreign- 
born  citizens  in  Chicago  who  had  given  their  lives  for 
their  country.  This  proportion  was  always  the  major 
number  on  the  list. 

Another  evidence  of  the  strong  loyalty  and  devotion 
of  Chicago's  foreign-born  citizens  in  the  war,  and  which 
speaks  for  them  more  eloquently  than  anything  else  could 
do  on  the  side  of  good  citizenship,  is  contained  in  the 
fact  that  in  the  third  Liberty  Loan  the  foreign  division 
of  Chicago,  embracing  twenty-one  nationalities,  sub- 
scribed $21,000,000  to  the  loan  out  of  the  total  of 
$150,000,000  (an  over-subscription  of  $24,000,000)  of 
Chicago's  allotment.  This  showing  of  Chicago's  for- 
eign citizenry  is  significant  when  it  is  remembered  that 

161 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

the  large  wealth  in  Chicago,  as  elsewhere  In  the  United 
States,  is  not  in  the  hands  of  naturalized  citizens. 

Meredith  Nicholson's  story,  Chicago,  in  Scribner's 
Magazine  early  in  191 8  treated  the  subject  with  real  care, 
true  vision,  and  fine  sympathy.  I  never  have  read  a  bet- 
ter description  of  Chicago,  and  I  was  amazed  to  discover 
how  nearly  his  survey  of  the  city  and  mine  dovetailed, 
although  I  had  not  the  pleasure  of  noting  his  narrative 
until  after  mine  was  finished. 

I  yield  to  Nicholson.  He  is  a  litterateur.  I  am  a  com- 
piler. Too  bad,  however,  that  he  could  not  have  spent 
more  time  on  certain  important  phases  of  Chicago's  life 
and  development.  His  survey  was  incomplete  on  certain 
important  fundamentals,  and  careless  in  detail,  complete 
as  it  was  en  masse.  On  that  score  I  may  stand  the  gaff 
of  similar  criticism  and  more  for  a  too  conscientious 
devotion  to  detail. 

A  single  sentence  describes  Chicago,  it  isj"he  most 
draiZatic  production  pFliJas.-MuyTCTPAL  history  of 
THE  WORLD.  That  is  what  Chicago  is.  A  mind  gifted 
with  the"'slightest  imagination  will  require  little  beyond 
this  single  line. 

From  a  frontier  settlement  to  the  fifth  city  in  tlie  world 
in  the  short  span  of  eighty  years  more  graphically  indi- 
cates the  truth  of  that  single  line  than  the  words  of  the 
best  informed  or  enthusiastic  could  possibly  do.  The 
romance  of  that  marvelous  fact  can  best  be  comprehended 
in  the  statement  that  a  resident  of  Chicago  who  made  his 
first  trip  to  it  in  181 8  in  an  open  rowboat  from  Mackinac 
Island  on  Lake  Michigan,  when  Chicago  was  an  Indian 
trading  post,  uninhabited  by  a  single  white  person,  lived 

162 


T3   O,  be  tn.J.  ^ 
^^  g  =  rtU   S 


-o-p: 


(U     I 


c  b*P 


u; 


^      ^  c  M 


,^^ 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

to  see  the  site  selected  for  the  World's  Columbian  Expo- 
sition of  1893.  Doubtless  he  was  the  only  person  in  the 
world's  history  who  "  bridged  with  his  life-span  the  chasm 
between  two  epochs"  of  a  country's  history  —  primeval 
savagery  and  the  intensive  development  of  the  highest 
civilization.  Nor  is  the  significance  of  that  statement 
appreciated  until  it  is  realized  that  the  World's  Colum- 
bian Exposition  was  recognized  in  every  civilized  nation 
as  the  very  personification  of  artistic  development  and 
perfection.  This  tribute  was  accorded  the  endeavors  of 
the  artists  and  the  citizens  who  produced  that  result  in 
a  community  that  sixty  years  before  was  untrod  by  the 
foot  of  the  white  man  and  known  only  to  the  wandering 
savage.  I  use  this  single  characterization  because,  since 
the  days  of  Babylon,  art  excellence  has  typified  the  high- 
est expression  of  civilization. 

One  hundred  and  forty-six  firms  in  Chicago  have  been 
in  existence  for  more  than  fifty  years.  Some  of  these 
date  back  to  the  incorporation  of  the  city  in  1837.  Three 
hundred  and  seventeen  old  residents  lived  in  Chicago 
in  19 18  who  had  lived  here  when  the  city  had  only 
28,269  people.  Forty-nine  lived  in  Chicago  who  lived 
here  when  the  city  had  only  4,479  people.  Eighteen  were 
still  alive  and  residing  in  Chicago  in  November,  19x7, 
who  had  lived  here  since  the  city  was  incorporated  in 
1837.  The  oldest  resident  then  living  dated  her  residence 
from  1827.  She  w^as  Ella  Griffin,  ninety-four  years  old. 
Mrs.  Emily  Beaubien  le  Beau,  ninety-two  years  old, 
dated  her  residence  from  1829,  when  the  present  city  of 
nearly  three  million  was  a  mere  crossroads.  Mrs.  Eliz- 
abeth Outhet  has  lived  in  Chicago  since   183 1.     Mrs. 

163 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Susan  Goeden  came  here  in  1832  and  liked  the  place  so 
well  she  has  remained  ever  since.  Catherine  Ludwig  and 
Simeon  A.  Rexford  were  still  residents  of  Chicago  in 
1 91 8.  They  came  to  Chicago  in  1834  when  it  was  incor- 
porated as  a  village.  William  Harman,  who  was  still 
alive  in  that  year,  came  here  in  1835.  The  climate  seemed 
to  agree  best  with  the  women  pioneers. 

Eighty  years  ago,  when  Chicago  was  incorporated  as 
a  village,  New  York  was  nearly  two  hundred  years  old ; 
Paris,  1,545  years;  Berlin,  800  years;  and  London,  2,000 
years  old. 

One  hundred  and  ninety-four  years  before  Chicago 
had  its  city  charter  New  York  had  five  hundred  inhabit- 
ants speaking  eighteen  different  languages.  One  hundred 
and  eighty-four  years  before  Chicago  was  made  a  city 
with  less  than  five  thousand  population,  New  York  (then 
New  Amsterdam)  was  chartered  a  city.  One  hundred 
and  seventy-six  years  before  Chicago  saw  the  light  of 
day  as  a  city.  New  York  had  one  thousand  souls,  and 
thirty  years  before  our  teething  period,  our  big  eastern 
sister  had  a  street  commission  containing  the  names  of 
some  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
who  recommended  that  all  the  north  and  south  streets  be 
made  one  hundred  feet  wide.  This  commission  became 
exhorters  for  the  public  welfare,  and  it  used  the  same 
arguments  then  in  stirring  the  people  to  action  that  are 
employed  today  to  show  the  people  of  the  world's  fifth 
city  why  they  should  hasten  to  carry  out  their  great  city 
Plan.  They  said  in  New  York,  with  their  then  fifty 
thousand  people  ( 1807)  that  in  fifty  years  the  city  would 
have  four  hundred  thousand  souls.     Like  all  city  plan- 

164 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

ners,  try  as  they  would  to  plan  big  enough,  they  fell 
short  fifty  per  cent  in  their  forecast,  for  in  fifty  years 
New  York  had  eight  hundred  thousand  souls,  and  only 
a  few  of  the  commission's  one-hundred-foot  street  rec- 
ommendations had  been  realized. 

The  present  European  capitals  were  already  great 
cities  when  the  good  civic  stork  left  the  basket  containing 
the  infant  city  on  Chicago's  doorstep. 

Berlin,  by  merging  the  two  towns  of  Kollin  and  Berlin, 
was  made  a  city  eight  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of 
Chicago.  The  German  capital  had  twice  as  many  inhab- 
itants as  Chicago  had  in  its  cradle,  one  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  years  before  Chicago's  cradle  was  rocked. 
Berlin  had  a  population  of  half  a  million  when  it  was 
announced  that  Mother  Chicago  and  the  child  were  doing 
well.  The  Teuton  metropolis  boasted  of  a  quarter  of  a 
million  twenty-one  years  before  Father  Dearborn  sent 
a  hurry-up  call  for  the  doctor. 

Paris  was  old  and  big  before  America  was  discovered. 
The  French  capital  had  nearly  a  million  people  when  Chi- 
cago filed  its  city  charter  papers  at  Springfield,  and  more 
than  half  a  million  thirty-seven  years  before  that  act. 

London!  No  one  knows  when  the  world's  metropolis 
first  opened  its  eyes.  It  is  said  to  have  been  forty-six 
years  A.  D.  The  authentic  history  of  the  British  capital 
dates  from  about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century.  Its 
population  was  exactly  the  same  as  Chicago's  at  its  birth 
—  six  hundred  and  thirty-eight  years  before  Chicago  was 
born.  It  was  a  metropolis  of  half  a  million  one  hundred 
and  seventy-six  years  before  Chicago  entered  the  world's 
arena  of  cities,  and  its  population  at  Chicago's  birth  was 

165 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

nearly  two  million,  or  about  the  same  as  that  of  Chicago 
in  19 lo.  London  was  as  big  a  city  when  Chicago  was 
born  as  Chicago  was  at  the  age  of  seventy- three  years. 

The  progress  of  the  world  had  set  a  pace  in  modern 
conveniences  and  many  of  the  principal  essentials  of  life 
were  established  when  Chicago  was  classified  among  the 
cities  of  the  land. 

The  Erie  Canal  had  been  opened  from  Buffalo  to  New 
York  twelve  years  before  that  time. 

The  weaving  and  knitting  machines  had  been  invented. 

Steel  pens  were  in  use. 

The  first  association  of  dentists  had  been  founded  in 
New  York  and  the  first  College  of  Dentistry  in  the  world 
was  opened  in  Baltimore. 

Fulton's  steamship  had  made,  its  first  trip  up  the  Hud- 
son long  before.  Morse  invented  the  telegraph  the  very 
year  Chicago  was  incorporated  and  seven  years  later  the 
first  message  was  sent  from  Baltimore  to  Washington. 
Chicago  then  had  a  population  of  about  ten  thousand. 

Chicago  was  only  thirty-seven  years  old  when  the  first 
trans-Atlantic  cable  was  laid  and  the  first  telegraph  line 
constructed.  It  was  thirty  years  old  when  the  Pullman 
sleeper  was  invented  and  thirty-three  years  old  when  the 
first  typewriter  came  into  use. 

Two  wars  for  independence  were  fought  by  the  United 
States  before  a  white  man  had  set  foot  on  the  site  of 
Chicago. 

The  population  of  the  United  States  was  seventeen 
million  before  Chicago  was  staked  out. 

There  were  five  thousand  miles  of  railroads  in  the 
United  States  before  Chicago  was  on  the  map.    , 

166 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

When  the  first  gun  was  fired  on  Fort  Sumter  fifty-six 
years  ago,  the  population  of  Chicago  was  only  109,206. 

Now  the  world's  fifth  city,  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  square  miles  in  area,  with  two  thousand  and 
seventy-nine  miles  of  paved  streets  out  of  a  total  of  four 
thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty-five  miles  of  streets 
and  alleys  —  more  than  twice  the  mileage  of  public 
roads  in  the  entire  state  of  Rhode  Island  and  half  that 
of  the  state  of  Delaware  —  with  five  thousand  miles 
of  water  and  sewer  mains  —  a  length  one-fifth  greater 
than  the  combined  lengths  of  the  Mississippi  and  Mis- 
souri rivers  —  with  two  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
seventy-seven  miles  of  railroad  trackage  within  its  bor- 
ders—  enough  to  stretch  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 

—  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  street 
railway  tracks  —  the  distance  from  New  Orleans  to  St. 
Paul  —  little  wonder  that  a  local  historian  in  1909 
described  Chicago,  the  central  metropolis  of  America, 
as  "  the  marvel  of  all  ages." 

Next  to  the  most  dramatic  fact  in  municipal  history 

—  Chicago's  development  from  a  handful  of  pioneers 
to  two  and  one-half  million  people  within  the  lifetime  of 
the  oldest  resident  now  living — is  the  prophecy  of  lo- 
gicians and  empire  builders  like  the  late  James  J.  Hill, 
who  said  Chicago  would  be  the  metropolis  of  the  world 
when  the  Pacific  Coast  had  twenty  million  inhabitants. 

The  vast  and  sparsely  developed  empires  to  the  north- 
west, west,  and  southwest  of  Chicago,  coupled  with  the 
enormous  increases  in  the  population  of  the  cities  told  in 
a  previous  chapter,  does  not  re<:iuire  the  stretching  of 
the  imagination  beyond  the  point  of  elasticity  to  com- 

167 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

prehend  Mr.  Hill's  foresight.  A  very  practical  and  care- 
ful analysis  of  the  history  and  growth  of  countries,  cities, 
commerce,  and  railroads  will  indicate  Chicago's  reaching 
the  inevitable  goal  of  the  metropolis  of  the  United.  States 
without  any  undue  stretch  of  the  imagination. 

In  the  three  most  important  factors  which  contribute 
to  the  greatness  of  any. city,  Chicago  has  been  most  boun- 
tifully blessed.  The  firstyls  the  extent  of  rich  and  popu- 
lous territory  into  which  trade  and  commerce  can  be 
extended.  The  se'con^^  is  the  supply  of  raw  materials 
near  at  hand  for  feeding  and  housing  and  for  use  in 
manufacturing  products  to  be  sold  in  the  tributary  ter- 
ritory. The  th^.is  the  extent  of  railway  and  water 
transportation  facilities  by  which  commerce  may  be  easily 
and  cheaply  handled.  In  all  these  three  elements  Chicago 
is  equaled  by  no  other  city  in  existence. 

The  richness  and  resources  of  the  vast  territory  lying 
about  Chicago  are  known  to  every  school  child.  The  wide 
prairies  to  the  south,  west,  and  northwest  produce^orn, 
wheat,  and  oats.  We  have  the  cheap  and  abundant  coal 
'Trom  the  mines  of  Indiana  and  Illinois;  the"oOpper  and 
iron  from  Michigan  and  Minnesota;  the  zinc  from  Mis- 
souri and  Wisconsin;  the  fruits,  and  vegetables  from 
Michigan ;  food  products  of  every  sort  come  to  us  from 
every  direction  round  about. 

At  the  western  edge  of  Chicago,  almost  within  the 
present  city,  we  have  unlimited  supplies  of  stone,  which, 
crushed  and  mixed  with  the  cement  produced  by  mills 
within  the  city  itself,  give  us  cheap  houses  of  enduring 
concrete.  Brick  we  make  from  the  clay  underlying  our 
city  on  every  side. 

i68 


^1^ 


>>\^\H^^ 


^^ 


CHICAGO  AIEN  AND  THINGS 

Lumber  comes  to  us  by  lake  from  the  forests  of  the 
north.  Steel  for  our  buildings  we  produce  from  the  iron 
borne  to  us  by  water  from  the  northern  mines.  Finally, 
turning  to  transportation,  we  find  Chicago  already  the 
greatest  railway  center  in  the  world.  Double-tracked 
steel  highways  stretch  in  every  direction,  running  to  the 
Pacific  on  one  hand  and  the  Atlantic  on  the  other  and 
skirting  the  Mississippi  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  These 
railways  draw  to  Chicago  an  ever-increasing  trade.  Mag- 
nificent steamships  enter  and  pass  out  of  our  river,  and 
from  our  harbors  carry  their  great  burdens  through 
hundreds  of  miles  of  lake  and  river  water  courses.  And 
now  we  are  on  the  verge  of  a  new  development  of  water 
traffic.  People  of  Illinois  have  voted  to  expend  twenty 
million  dollars  in  beginning  the  development  of  water 
commerce  across  the  state  by  way  of  the  Drainage  Canal 
and  the  Illinois  River,  intending  to  connect  the  traffic 
of  the  lakes  with  that  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Thrilling  indeed  is  the  story  of  man  in  his  building  of 
cities,  but  no  more  striking  chapter  in  the  story  can  ever 
be  told  than  that  of  the  upbuilding  of  mighty  Chicago, 
reaching  out  through  times  of  peace  and  war  in  the  com- 
mercial domination  of  the  wide  empire  surrounding  her. 

In  early  times  the  supremacy  of  commerce  and  popu- 
lation was  in  Asiatic  Europe.  Since  that  period  this 
movement  has  been  steadily  and  gradually  to  the  west- 
ward. First  across  Europe  and  then  across  the  Atlantic 
to  the  United  States,  the  movement  of  commerce  and  of 
people  has  always  followed  the  development  of  trans- 
portation   facilities,   principally   the   railroads.      In   the 

169 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

early  development  of  European  countries  like  our  own, 
the  metropoli  were  seaport  cities.  With  the  coming  of 
the  railroads  and  their  penetration  of  the  interior,  it  was 
only  a  question  of  time  when  an  interior  city  became  the 
metropolis.  The  simplest  verification  of  this  can  be  had 
in  a  review  of  the  development  of  any  old  country. 

With  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  miles  of  rail- 
roads in  the  entire  country,  forty-three  per  cent  or  ninety- 
six  thousand  miles  of  these  steel  highways  reach  Chicago 
from  every  direction  and  from  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  American  continent. 

Twenty-seven  separate  and  distinct  trunk  lines  of  rail- 
roads terminate  in  Chicago.  The  total  trackage  within 
the  city  limits  is  two  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
seventy-seven  miles. 

There  is  more  trunk-line  railroad  trackage  in  the  city 
of  Chicago  than  there  is  in  any  one  of  the  states  of  Ari- 
zona, Delaware,  Idaho,  Maine,  Maryland,  Massachusetts, 
Nevada,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  Oregon,  Rhode 
Island,  Utah,  Vermont,  Connecticut,  or  Wyoming. 

Seventeen  hundred  switching  engines  alone  are  used 
in  the  freight  and  coach  yards  and  forty  thousand  freight 
cars  are  handled  daily  —  enough  in  a  straight  line,  to 
stretch  from  Chicago  to  Cincinnati. 

The  center  of  population  in  the  United  States  is  less 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  southeast  of  Chicago 
in  the  state  of  Indiana.  Within  a  night's  ride  fifty-three 
million  people  live. 

The  population  added  each  year  to  Chicago  equals 
cities  the  size  of  Fort  Wayne,  Norfolk.  Peoria,  Port- 
land, Maine,  or  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 

170 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

In  light  of  these  stupendous  facts  half  told,  a  bold  man 
it  would  be  who  would  challenge  the  certainty  of  Chi- 
cago's becoming  the  g^reatest  city  on  the  American  con- 
tinent. Measured  by  the  lifetime  of  a  city,  that  result 
certainly  is  a  mere  handful  of  years  away.  Chicago  is 
my  city  by  adoption.  I,  therefore,  can  say  some  things 
that  would  not  be  so  pardonable  in  a  native  son.  I  wish 
I  had  the  power  from  the  premises  we  have  now  covered 
to  weave  a  description  of  its  people,  its  energy,  its  devel- 
opment, and  its  spirit  as  I  have  encountered,  known,  wit- 
nessed, and  breathed  these  things. 

We  marvel  at  Chicago  not  for  its  size,  Nature  gave 
it  the  location  that,  under  the  touch  of  modern  com- 
merce, produced  the  great  city.  It  is  not  Chicago's 
growth  that  amazes,  for  that  growth  naturally  accom- 
panied industry.  It  is  Chicago's  spirit  which  grips  the 
world's  attention. 

No  city  in  America  —  perhaps  none  in  the  world  — 
Jngj^irps^n^greatly  the  Jox£jgjld-..dgX"^L"'^  ^i-i^LJ^^Pl^ 
as  does  Chicago.  -*-'-« 

Four  times  within  a  short  history  of  eighty  years  has 
Chicago  proved  to  the  world  this  soul-stirring  devo- 
tion  to  city. 

Sixty  years  ago,  before  the  days  of  great  engineering 
feats,  Chicago's  mettle  was  first  proved  and  the  Chicago 
spirit  first  evoked.  It  became  apparent  that  to  secure 
proper  drainage  the  street  levels  of  the  entire  city  would 
have  to  be  raised.  It  wa^  a  tremendous  task,  for  it  meant 
raising  all  the  streets  and  most  of  the  buildings  from  the 
rfver  to  Twelfth  Street,  and  also  on  the  north  and  west 
sides  of  the  city.    The  people  of  Chicago  did  it,  amazing 

171 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

the  nation,  for  the  work  at  that  day  was  much  greater 
and  more  difficult  than  to  carry  out  the  entire  Plan  of 
Chicago  would  be  today.  I 

The  second  great  work  was  done  fifty  years  ago,  when 
Chicago  undertook  to  acquire  and  improve  a  chain  of 
parks  extending  around  the  city.  This  was  done,  at  the 
time,  not  because  the  city  needed  the  parks  for  use-Jmt  1 

because  its  people  wanted  to  make  Chicago  attracjtjye.  J 

These  parks  were  taken  and  paid  for,  and  the  load  was  ^ 

not  burdensome  even  for  the  small  city. 

Later  came  the  need  for  purifying  the  waters  of  Lake 
Michigan  and  Chicago  again  arose  and  put  sixty  million 
dollars  and  years  of  work  into  the  task  of  digging  the 
Drainage  Canal, 

Still  later  came  the  World's  Fair,  and  there  Chicago 
accomplished  a  work  never  surpassed  either  in  scope  or 
architectural  beauty.  To  spend  over  twenty  million  dol- 
lars in  grounds  and  buildings,  as  Chicago  did  for  that 
project,  was  a  surpassing  feat  of  civic  spirit  for  those 
days. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  about  the  Chicago 
spirit  —  the  "I  Will"  spirit,  it  is  called.  When  at  the 
height  of  my  civic  organization  work  in  Chicago,  a  New 
York  magazine  writer  of  prominence  asked  me  iiow  the 
Chicago  spirit  could  be  accounted  fgr,  and  what  it  was. 
To  the  first  question  I  replied,  "  The  2ptentiality  of  the 
city,"  and  to  the  second,  "  The  character  of  her  men." 

"  Define  it,"  he  said.       '^"^  '  ' 

My  threefold  answer  was :  First,  the  spirit  of  Chi- 
cago is  a  medium  of  the  ultra-conservatism  of  the  ex- 
treme East  and  the  unharnessed  enthusiasm  of  the  far 

172 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

West.  Second,  it  is  a  product  of  potentiality.  Potenti- 
ality permeates  every  nook  and  cranny  of  Chicago.  It 
has  laid  fast  hold  upon  and  inoculated  every  Chicagoan. 
There  is  everywhere  present  here  that  feeling  of  hope 
and  faith  which  is  so  pronounced  in  every  new  Eldorado. 
This  is  due  to  Chicago's  central  locatioiV'tJi  the  country 
and~lts  vast  and~unmatched  transportation  facilities. 
~Ali  this  is  helj)ed..by.  ii.ajCQ.sm£>politan_c^^  Third, 

Chicago  business  men  are  prosperous.  They  bejieve  in 
their  city.  They  see  and  recognize  the  great  possibili- 
ties  of  the  future  city,  and  their  faith  in  the  present  city  ( 
is  supreme  and  unshakable.  They  have  the  capacity  for 
work  —  hard  work  —  and  they  believe  in  organization. 
They  pull  together  and  work  together  in  the  full  compre- 
hension that  in  so  doing  they  not  only  help  the  city  but 
they  enrich  themselves. 

The  climate  of  Chicago,  too,  has  more  to  do  with  the 
Chicago  spirit  than  most  of  us  realize.  It  is  exhilarating. 
The  average  weather  is  good  and  tolerable,  both  in  the 
extreme  of  summer  and  winter.  The  traveling  class  — 
those  who  can  seek  their  ease  as  they  desire  —  remain 
in  Chicago  all  summer  and  most  of  the  winter.  The 
vacation  period  for  Chicago's  prosperous  business  men  is 
from  the  middle  of  February  to  the  first  of  April.  Even 
the  lightning-like  and  extreme  changes  in  the  weather 
are  not  without  benefit.  Not  infrequently,  in  season, 
the  thermometer  changes  forty  deg^-ees  or  more  in  twen- 
ty-four hours.  Contrary  to  the  belief  of  most  people, 
these  sudden  changes  in  temperature  keep  the  people 
healthy  and  act  like  a  tonic  to  jaded  nerves.  It  is  a  well- 
established  fact  in  the  profession  of  materia  niedica  that, 

173 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

in  the  treatment  of  certain  nervous  ailments,  there  is 
applied  to  the  nerve  centers  along  the  spine  the  method 
of  alternating  applications  of  hot  and  cold  fomentations. 
The  common  practice  is  to  turn  the  patient  on  his  stom- 
ach, run  a  piece  of  ice  up  and  down  his  spine,  and  then 
to  instantly  apply  thick  flannel  folds  steeped  in  extremely 
hot  water.  The  patient  instantly  responds  to  this  treat- 
ment, although  the  place  where  his  sensations  of  pleas- 
ure are  supposed  to  exist  may  rebel  against  it. 

Chicago's  death  rate,  too,  is  low,  being  only  14.93  ^" 
one  thousand  for  19 17.  This  is  a  decrease  of  ten  to 
every  thousand  since  1891,  and  is  less  than  the  rates  of 
Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  Boston,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Bal- 
timore, and  Pittsburgh.  During  the  world-wide  plague  of 
influenza  in  19 18  Chicago  had  fewer  deaths  than  any 
large  city  in  the  United  States  according  to  the  govern- 
ment census. 

Chicago  is  a  contented,  unselfish  family.  The  mean- 
ing of  the  words  "  home  "  and  "  neighbor  "  is  still  under- 
stood. The  public  health  is  good  and  prosperity  is  city- 
wide.  During  my  eleven  years  of  active  identification 
with  three  great  organizations  in  Chicago  for  the  public 
good  of  city  and  nation  I  have  had  ample  opportunity  to 
survey  the  work  of  civic  organization  the  country  over. 
As  a  result  of  my  intimate  knowledge  of  such  endeavor, 
it  is  my  certain  conviction  that  no  city  in  America  — 
perhaps  none  in  the  world  —  possesses  the  spirit  of 
organization  comparable  to  Chicago.  There  is  not  a 
trade,  occupation,  nor  profession  without  its  specific  or- 
ganization. These  number  into  the  hundreds,  and  they 
typify  the  highest  and  most  desirable  element  of  efficiency 

174 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

in  their  respective  branches  of  the  city's  activities.  Be- 
sides seeking  knowledge,  they  find  a  useful  place  in  the 
community  life  and  needs. 

One  of  these  organizations  stands  out  in  my  memory 
as  typical  of  all  the  rest.  It  is  the  Leather  Belting  Asso- 
ciation. On  occasion  I  was  asked  to  address  its  members 
at  a  business  luncheon.  Forty-odd  members  were  pres- 
ent. During  the  luncheon,  I  said  to  the  president,  *'  This 
amazes  me.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  the  leather 
belting  business,  but  I  did  not  suppose  there  were  enough 
dealers  in  this  business  in  Chicago  to  form  an  organiza- 
tion. How  many  members  have  you?"  "Seventy-five, 
but  all  the  dealers  are  not  members.  There  are  nearly 
a  hundred  concerns  in  this  business  in  the  city."  "  What 
is  your  organization  for?"  I  asked.  "We  are  organ- 
ized," said  the  president,  "  for  the  mutual  good  of  those 
engaged  in  our  trade.  We  have  materially  increased  the 
efficiency  of  our  business  through  cooperation.  At  many 
of  our  meetings  we  arrange  to  dispatch  our  business  as 
quickly  as  possible,  then  we  have  addresses  on  subjects 
of  civic  importance.  This  broadens  us  individually, 
makes  us  better  citizens,  and  better  business  men." 

This  is  the  universal  practice  in  nearly  all  of  Chicago's 
hundreds  of  organizations  of  whatsoever  kind.  Public 
men,  writers,  educators,  and  experts  are  in  great  demand 
as  speakers.  The  supply  falls  far  short  of  the  demand 
and  those  who  accept  service  in  this  respect  are  hard 
pushed.  Most  of  these  organizations  find  expression  for 
their  civic  interest  through  individual  membership  in  the 
great  Association  of  Commerce.  Every  city  worthy  of 
the  name  has  such  a  central  business  and  civic  organiza- 

175 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

tion,  but  it  is_niy_certain  bdieJL  that  no  similar  body  in 
AmericaTbegins  to  approach  the  Chicago  Association  of 
Commerce  either  in  efficiency  or  influence.  It  has  been 
imitated  many  times  but  never  matched  or  excelled.  The 
serious,  scientific  manner  in  which  all  committees  are 
organized  and  conducted  is  a  matter  of  admiration  and 
gratification  to  the  most  staid  Chicagoan.  The  policy 
of  the  association  is  a  religion  to  every  executive  and 
worker  in  its  ranks.  In  respect  to  this  and  the  actual 
time  invested  and  worth-while  work  accomplished,  I  think 
the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce  differs  from  any 
other  organization  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  Its  presi- 
dents, selected  from  the  city's  business  leaders,  know 
before  taking  their  post  what  is  expected  of  them.  They 
realize  they  are  not  selected  for  name  or  position  but 
for  work  —  soul  and  brain  endeavor.  The  sacrifices  of 
every  president  of  this  organization  without  exception 
constitute  the  finest  of  contributions  to  city  welfare  and 
a  lasting  tribute  to  city  character.  The  nationally  known 
weekly  meetings  of  its  Ways  and  Means  Committee  have 
an  average  attendance  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  mem- 
bers. The  chairmen  are  of  the  same  type  and  ability  as 
their  presidents.  "  Service  —  efficient,  expedient,  and  sac- 
rificial," is  the  watchword  of  this  truly  wonderful  body 
of  men.  Its  influence  has*made  its  mark  on  the  nation, 
and  has  been  felt  across  the  water  in  Europe. 

The  aw^akening  of  a  civic  conscience  in  Chicago  dates 
from  the  organization  of  the  Chicago  Association  of 
Commerce  in  1903.  Without  an  aroused  civic  conscience, 
the  most  potential  city  is  like  a  ship  in  a  storm  without 
a  rudder.     Chicago  is  young.     Most  of  its  civic  ills  are 

176 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

due  to  growing  pains.  These  are  a  most  healthful  sign 
in  any  stalwart  youth.  For  three-score  years  Chicago 
forged  its  way  from  a  swampy  Indian  trading  post  to 
a  city  of  a  million  and  three-quarters,  without  taking 
overmuch  thought  of  its  soul.  Then  it  paused  in  its 
quest  for  commercial  supremacy  and  looked  around  to 
see  how  it  could  right  itself,  cure  its  ills  and  insure  its 
destiny.  For  sixty  years  its  citizens,  for  the  most  part 
poor,  were  rightfully  engaged  in  building  a  solid  footing 
beneath  their  businesses  for  the  safety  of  their  families. 
Then  they  began  to  take  account  of  their  larger  home 
—  their  city  —  and  its  welfare.  Since  that  moment  Chi- 
cago's progress  has  been  truly  amazing.  Its  ideals  have 
been  defined;  its  place  among  the  great  cities  of  the  world 
assured ;  and  its  future  as  the  greatest  city  irrevocably 
established. 

No  worth-while  element  has  been  neglected.  The 
sciences  and  the  arts  have  been  advanced ;  its  educational 
institutions  have  flourished  and  gained  world-wide  dis- 
tinction;  its  religious  life  has  quickened;  social  service 
endeavor  has*^eT"a  pace  for  all  cities  where  the  cancer 
of  congestion  breeds  misery;  and  in  the  life  of  the  city 
there  has  been  no  more  pronounced  and  distinguished 
element  of  usefulness  in  attaining  these  ends  than  that 
superb  and  limited  organization,  The  Commercial  Club 
of  Chicago.  This  club  comprises  one  hundred  of  the 
city's  leaders  in  every  branch  of  business.  Its  name  does 
not  reveal  its  objects,  which  essentially  are  not  commer- 
cial ;  mere  commercialism  forms  no  part  of  the  purpose 
of  The  Commercial  Club. 

It  is  difficult  for  anyone  intimatety  acquainted  with 

1/7 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

the  work  and  influence  of  The  Commercial  Club  to  record 
its  far-reaching  service,  and  the  exceptional  character  of 
its  persojinel  without  being  accused  of  hero  worship. 

,The  Commercial~Cfafar-is  a  remarkable  group  of  men, 
whose  influence  is  tremendous;  such  a  group  would  be 
a  power  anywhere  in  the  world. 

When  you  select  a  hundred  leading  bankers,  railroad 
executives,  manufacturers,  merchants,  newspaper  pub- 
lishers, packers,  and  capitalists  in  Chicago,  you  select 
a  hundred  world  leaders  in  their  respective  activities. 

Such  a  group,  organized  socially,  but  devoted  to  com- 
munity  advancement,  is  an  incalculable  power  for  civic 
betterment.  Fortunate  indeed  is  the  city,  large  or  small, 
that  can  boast  of  such  an  asset. 

The  secret  of  the  worth  of  The  Commercial  Club  ctf 
Chicago  lies  in  the  common  interests  of  its  members. 
A  common  social  and  financial  bond  ties  them  together 
and  these  fasten,  cement,  and  hold  their  identities  and 
interests  in  unified  action.  There  are  only  three  other 
similar  clubs  in  the  United  States.  These  are  the  Com- 
mercial Clubs  of  Boston,  St.  Louis,  and  Cincinnati,  which 
were  organized  about  the  same  time  and  with  the  same 
objects. 

Every  member  of  the  Chicago  organization  construes 
a  request  from  an  officer  or  committeeman  as  a  command. 
Arduous  work  is  done  by  this  organization  —  work  re- 
quiring large  sums  of  money  and  great  ability.  Yet  its 
set  dues  are  nominal  and  the  current  surplus  in  its  treas- 
ury is  small.  Everything  is  done  by  common  consent, 
as  in  a  brotherhood,  That,  in  very  fact,  is  what  the  club 
is,  a  brotherhood.     A  task  is  outlined;  decided  upon  by 

178 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

the  executive  committee;  money  is  required  for  its  ac- 
complishment. The  amount  is  frequently  measured  by 
scores  of  thousands.  Whatever  it  is,  it  is  at  once  pro- 
rated among  the  members,  a  call  is  sent  out  and  the 
checks  flow  in.  There  is  no  question,  no  debate,  no  hesi- 
tation. All  is  understood ;  all  is  agreeable ;  all  is  pre- 
cision. 

Such  order  and  results  could  not  be  obtained  except 
in  a  limited  group,  which  is  another  argument  in  its 
favor.  But  why  generalize?  Why  attempt  the  painting 
of  a  picture  where  the  artist,  colors,  palette,  brushes,  and 
canvas  are  self-supplied?  Let  The  Commercial  Club 
speak  for  itself;  it  paints  with  a  broad  stroke. 

These  one  hundred  men,  by  combining  their  brains, 
souls,  and  pocketbooks,  contributed..  $303,400^  £oi^-+he 
creation  and  promotion  oi  a  comprehensive  city  plan 
greater  than  anything  ever  before  attempted  by  any 
American  city,  and  which,  when  finished,  was  presented 
as'sTgift  to  the  city. 

They,  from  their  personal  pockets,  helped  to  provide 
their^  city ,  with,  playgrounds  for.  poor  children  and  gave 
to  it  and  largely  helped  to  maintain  the  Glenwood  Man- 
ual Training  School,  a  wonderful  corrective  school  and 
home  for  wayward  boys. 

They  gave  to  the  United  States  government  the  site 
for  Fort  Sheridan  and  the  site  for  the  Great  Lakes  Naval 
Training  Station  at  Lake  Bluff,  Illinois. 

During  the  Great  War  more  than  thirty  per  cent  of 
their  membership  was  serving  the  government  in  war 
work  of  various  kinds  abroad  and  in  this  country. 

Such  is  a  partial  index  of  the  wise  and  widespread 

179 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

munificence  of  the  members  of  The  Commercial  Chib. 
Naturally  where  is  found  such  grace,  wisdom,  and 
bounty  is  found  characteristic  and  befitting  modesty. 
Unless  some  daring  scribe,  willing  to  risk  being  mfs- 
understood,  tells  of  these  things,  they  never  would  be 
heralded.  The  Commercial  Club  does  not  advertise 
itself.  It  seeks  no  publicity  and  it  accepts  less.  In  har- 
mony with  true  beneficence,  it  lets  not  -its  right  hand 
know  what  its  left  hand  does. 

A  delightful  and  one  of  the  most  important  phases  of 
the  club's  life  finds  expression  in  its  dinners.  On  such 
frequent  occasions  its  members  and  friends  are  the  for- 
tunate auditors  of  unheralded  public  men  —  world  lead- 
ers of  political  and  economic  thought  and  financial  and 
industrial  accomplishment. 

It  is  the  custom  for  one  speaker  only  to  occupy  the 
evening.  He  is  given  all  the  time  he  requires  for  his 
subject.  He  does  not  find  himself  on  the  same  program 
with  such  subjects  as  "  The  War  in  Samoa,"  "  Child 
Welfare,"  "The  Great  Northwest,"  and  "Why  Cook 
Failed  to  Discover  the  North  Pole."  How  satisfying, 
comfortable,  and  beneficial  it  w^ould  be  if  other  organ- 
izations would  "go  and  do  likewise."  These  talks  are 
not  of  the  after-dinner  variety;  they  touch  the  vitals  of 
problems  international,  national,  and  local.  Always  the 
diagnostician  is  the  premier  specialist  in  his  field. 

To  be  a  guest  at  a  Commercial  Club  banquet  is  a  rare 
privilege  —  a  distinction  of  great  delight  and  profit. 

The  Commercial  Club  is  so  many-sided  in  its  activities 

I  that  a  complete  chronicle  would  read  like  a  Baedeker  of 

civic  and  national  usefulness.     Cataloguing  its  achieve- 

i8o 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

ments  would  touch  every  worthy  phase  of  Chicago  life 
and  development,  and  would  cover  the  v/idest  contrasts. 
There  would  be»  blended  the  cultural  and  the  industrial ; 
the  financial  and  the  charitable;  the  commercial  and  the 
educational ;  the  recreational  and  the  hygienic ;  the  philan- 
thropic and  the  religious ;  the  scientific  and  the  artistic. 

Naturally  business  —  the  conservation  and  promotion 
of  things  commercial  —  is  the  mission  of  business  lead- 
ers of  any  community.  Only  rarely  —  most  exception- 
ally—  is  there  found  a  combination  of  these  qualities 
and  endeavors  with  things  cultural  and  spiritual. 

Members  of  The  Commercial  Club  are  the  leaders  of 
practically  every  big  and  far-reaching  agency  of  city- 
"■(vT3e"benefit  in  Chicago.  These  include  permanent  grand 
opera;  the  erection  of  one  of  the  world's  finest  hostelries 
—  the  matchless  Blackstone  Hotel;  the  Art  Institute; 
and  the  free  site  under  government  permit  for  the  cen- 
tral location  on  the  Lake  Front  of  the  great  Field  Mu- 
seum of  Natural  History,  which,  together  with  buildings 
and  maintenance,  constituted  a  gift  of  nine  million  dol- 
lars by  one  of  its  members  to  the  city.  It  encourages 
musical  study  and  production,  and  helps  to  sustain  them. 
It  aids  the  sciences  and  the  arts  —  in  a  wordj-The  Com- 
mercial Club  is  the.  watchdog  of  Chicago's  temporal  ami 
jxpjri  tual.  w  eliar  e . 

Its  provident  acts  are  legion.  It  benefits  the  entire 
city  and  all  elements  in  it  in  unprecedented  and  incal- 
culable measure.  Such  is  the  nucleus  of  inspiration  and 
accomplishment  in  the  world's  fifth  city,  which  someone 
designated  as  a  "  city  without  a  soul ;  given  over  entirely 
to  Mammon's  worship." 

i8i 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

In  describing  Chicago,  I  did  not  know  how  to  begin. 
I  suppose  that  has  puzzled  every  writer  who  has  at- 
tempted it  —  and  now  I  do  not  know  how  to  continue. 
Chicago  can  only  be  painted  with  broad -stroke^.,..  The 
artist  has  not  yet  appeared  who  can  fill  the  canvas  "com- 
pletely and  meritoriously.  When  I  first'"saw- Chicago, 
its  bigness  and  daring  tool:  my  breath^way,  and  I  di^^' 
not  come  from  a  small  city.  London  did  not  affect 
me  this  way,  nor  did  New  York  or  Paris.  Berlin 
—  that  is  quite  comparable.  The  growth  and  physical 
development  of  Berlin  and  Chicago  are  very  similar. 
The  same  kind  of  dash  and  spirit  which  built  Chicago 
made  Berlin.  Fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  American 
travelers  in  Europe  visited  Berlin  bent  only  on  business. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  the  German  capital  was 
almost  as  favored  as  Paris  as  a  Mecca  of  American  tour- 
ists. This  change  in  the  tide  of  travel  resulted  from  the 
marvelous  and  attractive  manner  in  which  Berlin  has 
developed  herself  in  the  past  decade,  but  that  is  another 
subject. 

There  is  an  intangible,  indescribable  something  about 
the  energy  of  Chicago  that  grips  the  traveler  when  he  first 
enters  its  gates.  Of  one  thing  I  am  certain  —  I  shall 
not  describe  the  Stock  Yards.  Nearly  everybody  who 
writes  anything  about  Chicago  contributes  copiously  to 
"packing  town."  So  much  has  been  said  about  the 
Stock  Yards  that  some  people,  untraveled,  couple  this 
with  Chicago's  Indian  citizenry  of  eighty  years  ago,  and 
fail  utterly  to  comprehend  that  pig  sticking  is  not  our 
only  enterprise,  and  that  the  red  man  has  long  since 
ceased  to  tomahawk  people  on  the  corner  of  State  and 

182 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

Madison  Streets.  Albeit  the  Stock  Yards  is  a  wonder- 
ful institution.  Any  city  could  be  proud  of  this  indus- 
try and  happy  in  its  benefits.  What  I  want  to  say  about 
the  Stock  Yards  is  that  the  president  of  its  largest  single 
business,  a  typical  Chicagoan  of  the  heritage  that  made 
Chicago,  in  the  days  when  the  making  was  a  Herculean 
task,  typifies  the  spirit  of  what  it  is  that  is  multiplied  in 
its  nearly  three  million  inhabitants.  This  Napoleon  of 
business,  unlike  some  of  our  eastern  brethren  who  shook 
the  sands  of  America  from  their  feet  to  take  citizenship 
in  Europe  and  hob-nob  with  its  courts,  expended  several 
million  dollars  in  reclaiming  a  large  marsh  acreage  near 
the  beautiful  village  of  Lake  Forest  where  he  laid  out 
and  developed  an  estate  that  is  to  be  envied  by  kings, 
lords,  and  dukes.  Loyal  to  Chicago,  his  wealth  remained 
in  his  native  city  to  enrich  thousands  of  laboring  men 
and  scores,  of  tradespeople. 

This  is  J.  Ogden  Armour,  the  premier  packer  of  the 
Stock  Yards  interests.  His  father  before  him,  Philip 
D.  Armour,  who  was  one  of  the  great,  stalwart  pioneers 
of  Chicago,  founded  in  his  city  the  Armour  Institute  of 
Technology  which  is  accredited  as  one  of  the  best  insti- 
tutions of  its  kind  in  the  country.  Its  policy,  which  is 
to  assist  worthy  young  men,  is  one  of  the  noblest  of  any 
public  institution  in  the  land.  Wealth  and  civic  pride 
such  as  were  blended  in  the  Armours  are  incalculable 
blessings  to  Chicago  and  to  the  nation.  Talk  about  your 
idealists  —  talk  about  a  city  without  a  soul  —  my  work 
in  Chicago  has  brought  me  in  contact  in  some  degree 
with  every  big  man  in  the  city.  I  have  had  liberal  oppor- 
tunity in  my  travels  abroad  and  throughout  America  to 

183 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

observe  men  everywhere  and  I  venture  the  assertion  that 
no  city  has  more  idealists''aiTlohg  i"fs'''foremost  business 
men  than  has  Chicago.  There  is  not  an  institution  for 
the  public  good  —  no  art,  no  science,  no  school,  nor  uni- 
versity—  that  does  not  feel  the  directing  touch,  personal 
and  sympathetic,  of  Chicago's  leading  business  men. 
One  of  these  —  a  merchant  at  the  head  of  an  establish- 
ment doing  upward  of  one  hundred  million  dollars'  worth 
of  business  a  year — retired  as  president  at  sixty  years 
of  age  to  give  more  largely  of  his  time  to  cultural  and 
civic  things.  This  merchant  prince,  whose  taste  turned 
to  art,  had  never  had  a  brush  in  his  hand  until  he  was 
more  than  fifty  years  of  age.  He  established  himself  in 
a  studio  in  a  leading  downtown  building  in  the  art  center 
and  took  up  painting — because  he  loved  it  —  with  such 
devotion  and  skill  that  he  has  produced  some  remark- 
ably good  work  and  his  collections  have  been  on  exhibi- 
tion in  the  Art  Institute.  As  a  patron  of  the  Art  Insti- 
tute, he  contributed  a  special  room  and  a  collection  of 
the  paintings  of  one  of  America's  most  celebrated  artists 
at  a  cost  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  This 
is  a  fair  example  of  the  acts,  ideals,  and  influences  of 
Chicago's  business  leaders. 

"  The  windy  city,"  is  the  cognomen  many  know  Chi- 
cago by.  W'indiness  applies  only  to  her  lake.  A  few  of 
her  citizens  of  colonial  vintage  deplore  the  boastfulness 
of  her  people,  but  they  are  not  more  breezy  than  those 
of  other  communities,  they  simply  have  perhaps  more 
red  blood  corpuscles.  Good  health  always  finds  exuber- 
ance in  ways  appalling  to  the  anaemic  and  those  afflicted 
with  the  hookworm,    Chicago  is  not  a  city  of  boasters  — 

184  "" 


Chicago.     Statue  of  Lincoln  by  Saint-Gaudens,  America's  greatest 
sculptor.    South  entrance  to  Lincoln  Park. 


Uf  «ARTf 
OF  THE 
UNIYERBJTr  Of  ILUNO 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

it  is  a  city  of  boosters.  A  lot  of  people  do  not  know 
the  difference.  A  good  booster  is  a  great  asset  in  any 
locality.  An  army  of  them  is  invincible.  No  one  needs 
to  apologize  for  Chicago  in  this  respect  and  the  citizen 
who  feels  called  upon  to  do  so  will  not  be  unwelcome 
if  he  takes  his  departure  for  the  region  of  his  ancestors. 

As  for  the  scribe  who  depicted  Chicago  as  a  "  one 
street  town  " —  this  is  amusing.  His  survey  must  have 
been  made  in  a  taxicab  with  his  eye  constantly  on  the 
meter.  I  think  he  was  from  New  York,  and  he  riiight 
have  said  the  same  thing  about  his  own  city.  In  truth, 
the  average  public's  knowledge  of  New  York's  street 
system  obtains  pretty  largely  to  Fifth  Avenue,  Broad- 
way, and  Riverside  Drive,  but  this  trinity  of  world-fam- 
ous streets  falls  far  short  of  describing  the  network  of 
remarkable  thoroughfares  interlacing  the  nation's  me- 
tropolis. Dealing  with  Chicago,  if  he  had  in  mind  the 
business  center,  would  he  refer  to  the  world-famous 
Michigan  Avenue  or  the  universally  recognized  greatest 
shopping  street,  State  Street,  or  to  the  Theater  Way, 
Randolph  Street,  or  Chicago's  White  Way,  Dearborn 
Street?  If  so,  he  might  have  contrasted  these  to  New 
York's  Fifth  Avenue,  Broadway,  Thirty-third  Street, 
and  Sixth  Avenue. 

If  he  referred  to  Chicago's  residential  development, 
did  he  mean  the  beautiful  Lake  Shore  Drive,  the  aristo- 
cratic Astor  Street,  the  beautiful  Sheridan  Road,  the 
wonderful  Drexel  Boulevard,  or  the  palatial  Grand  Boul- 
evard—  not  to  mention  a  host  of  others?  If  so,  he 
might  have  contrasted  these  with  New  York's  Riverside 
Drive,   upper   Fifth   Avenue,    Madison    Street,    Central 

185 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Parkway  West  and,  barring  a  host  of  others,  that  des- 
cribes New  York's  residential  section. 

Any  adequate  description  of  a  great  city  based  upon 
intimate  and  accurate  knowledge  must  find  true  expres- 
sion in  a  survey  of  not  only  the  entire  city  but  its  environs. 
When  one  is  moved  to  describe  Chicago,  he  should  know 
something  of  the  beautiful  and  almost  incomparable 
suburban  district  on  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Michigan. 
The  location,  setting,  and  palatial  development  of  Lake 
Forest,  Evanston,  Kenilworth,  Highland  Park,  Glencoe, 
Winnetka,  Hubbard  Woods,  and  Wilmette  form  a  back- 
ground to  Chicago  of  physical  charm  and  luxury  as  grand 
and  inspiring  as  those  of  the  most  boasted  of  cities,  old 
world  or  new.  Let  him  know  something  of  the  finely 
developed  residential  section  within  the  city's  borders  to 
the  southward  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Washington  Park. 
Let  him  know  something  of  the  highly  developed  and 
beautiful  suburb,  Oak  Park,  to  the  westward  and  her 
sister  villages  still  farther  out  on  the  same  course  — 
Wheaton,  Elmhurst,  and  Hinsdale.  In  order  that  their 
real  significance  may  be  the  more  appreciated,  it  is  desir- 
able to  give  some  attention  to  the  area  of  Chicago  with 
the  astounding  facts  and  contrasts  it  reveals. 

The  area  of  Chicago  is  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
square  miles.  It  is  twenty-six  miles  long  and  nine  miles 
wide. 

New  York,  with  more  than  twice  the  population,  has 
only  twenty-one  per  cent  more  area  than  Chicago,  or  twO' 
hundred  and  forty  square  miles.  It  is  thirty-five  miles 
long,  including  Staten  Island,  and  fifteen  miles  wide. 

London,  with  three  times  the  population,  has  thirty- 

i86 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

five  per  cent  less  area  than  Chicago,  or  one  hundred  and 
twenty-three  square  miles.  It  is  fourteen  miles  long  and 
ten  miles  wide. 

Berlin,  with  a  million  greater  population,  has  forty- 
six  per  cent  less  area  than  Chicago,  or  one  hundred  and 
six  square  miles.  It  is  eight  and  one-half  miles  long  and 
five  miles  wide. 

Paris,  with  a  quarter  of  a  million  greater  population, 
has  seven  per  cent  less  area  than  Chicago,  or  one  hundred 
and.  eighty-four  square  miles.  This  includes  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Seine,  and  extends  the  limits  nearly  five  miles 
outside  the  walls.  Paris  proper  has  only  thirty-two 
square  miles  and  is  seven  and  one-half  miles  wide  and 
five  and  one-half  miles  long. 

The  large  area  of  Chicago  must  be  given  important 
consideration  in  whatever  is  said  about  it.  In  cities  of 
restricted  area  civic  and  physical  problems  are  reduced 
tremendously.  The  three  cities  leading  Chicago  in  popu- 
lation but  falling  far  short  in  area  have  a  correspondingly 
increased  corporate  fund,  which  is  of  tremendous  signif- 
icance when  surveying  the  effects  of  intensive  develop- 
ment and  attractive  surroundings. 

Chicago's  area  is  greater  than  the  combined  area  of 
Boston,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  and  Pittsburgh.  It  is  four 
times  greater  than  New  York's  when  that  city  comprised 
only  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx.  This  was  as  late  as 
1890,  and  it  is  nearly  twice  as  great  as  present  Berlin; 
six  times  greater  than  Paris  proper;  and  a  third  greater 
than  London.  If  Chicago  was  laid  out  in  a  perfect 
square,  it  would  be  14.8  miles  square.  To  circle  the  entire 
city  one  must  travel  eighty-six  miles.     To  cross  the  city 

187 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

on  the  diagonal  of  a  square  one  would  travel  19.8  miles. 
It  is  apparent  on  the  face  of  these  facts  that  New  York, 
with  more  than  twice  the  population  of  Chicago,  and 
nearly  three  times  the  annual  corporate  fund  for  city 
improvement  and  maintenance,  and  with  only  one-fifth 
more  area,  makes  Chicago  loom  up  big  in  its  civic  accom- 
plishments. Imagine  its  limited  corporate  fund  in  con- 
trast with  its  vast  area,  and  it  will  be  realized  at  once 
that  it  is  confronted  with  a  tremendous  task  in  properly 
policing,  to  say  nothing  of  lighting,  school  development, 
sewage,  water  mains,  park  maintenance,  and  other  com- 
mon public  necessities.  Withal  it  has  two  thousand  and 
seventy-nine  miles  of  paved  streets  and  is  the  best  paved 
large  city  in  the  world.  One  way  of  showing  the  bigness 
of  Chicago's  area  is  by  the  length  of^  its  longest  street, 
Western  Avenue,  twenty-three  and  one-half  miles  long.,. 
Halsted  Street  is  next  and  is  twenty  miles  long.  I 
never  think  of  Western  Avenue  and  Halsted  Street  with- 
out being  reminded  of  the  experience  of  my  friend  who 
was  born  and  rearjed  in  a  little  burg  in  the  hills  of 
Tennessee,  but  who  removed  to  New  York  to  engage  in 
business  when  a  young  man.  On  his  first  visit  back  to 
the  home  town,  with  considerable  pride  and  an  air  of 
ownership,  he  was  describing  New  York  to  a  little  group 
of  village  wags  and  wiseacres  gathered  around  the  stove 
of  the  single  grocery.  Both  figures  are  familiar  to  every- 
one acquainted  with  the  character  and  life  of  a  cross- 
roads town.  My  friend  had  just  pictured  Broadway  as 
a  fourteen-mile  street.  The  jaw  of  a  bewhiskered  old 
fellow  dropped,  and  with  a  look  half  of  awe  and  in- 
credulity, he  said,  "  Be  thar  stoers  all  o'  the  way  ?  " 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

Small  town  people  the  country  over  are  accustomed  to 
judging  the  size  of  a  town  by  its  number  of  stores,  or  the 
size  of  the  business  center.  In  this  town,  where  there 
were  but  three  stores,  this  old  man,  who  never  had  been 
away  from  it,  had  utterly  no  comprehension  of  a  de- 
veloped stredt  fourteen  miles  long,  and  his  query  was 
perfectly  natural.  I  have  often  thought  of  it  because  it 
epitomizes  exactly  the  estimate  people  have  of  cities  in 
accordance  with  their  knowledge  and  understanding. 
Just  as  the  old  man's  three  store  street  was  his  idea' of 
the  size  of  a  town,  one  may  form  a  fairly  good  idea  of 
the  bigness  of  Chicago  by  its  Halsted  Street,  and  there 
are  stores  literally  all  the  way  from  one  end  of  the  city 
to  the  other.  It  is  the  most  important  west  side  street 
of  the  city. 

The  total  frontage  of  stores  and  business  houses,  not 
including  factories,  in  Chicago,  if  placed  in  a  straight 
line,  would  reach  from  Chicago  to  Detroit,  two  hundred 
and  eighty  miles.  There  are  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  buildings  of  ten  stories  and  over  in  the  Loop  alone. 

Contrasting  Chicago  with  larger  cities,  in  the  light 
of  its  restricted  public  finances  and  vast  area,  it  will  not 
be  thought  strange  if  its  paving,  as  extended  as  it  is  and 
as  good  as  it  is,  is  somewhat  sporadic,  and  if  there  are 
certain  large  areas  which  are  not  attractively  developed. 
Neither  will  it  be  thought  strange  that  the  sections  which 
are  intensively  developed  and  of  the  highest  aesthetic 
character  are  interspersed  with  undesirable  breaks  in 
development.  W^f  '"V\> 

Chicago  has  been  described  as  a:  Tiaphazafd  group  of 
overgrown  villages.    That  is  not  quite  true,  but  it  serves 

189 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

admirably  to  indicate  just  what  Chicago  is  from  an  or- 
ganized city  planning  standpoint.  The  real  problem  of 
the  city  planner  is  to  bring  all  the  unknitted  parts  together 
in  a"siJitable  garment  as  a  whole.  No  other  city  of  my 
acquaintance  holds  so  many  separate,  isolated,  and  highly 
developed  districts  within  its  borders.  In  every  section 
there  are  settlements  of  this  character,  any  one  of  which 
would  make  a  good-sized  city  in  itself.  Seven  miles  from 
the  corner  of  State  and  Madison  streets  in  the  section 
where  I  live,  there  is  a  thoroughly  metropolitan  highly 
developed  city  of  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  peo- 
ple. It  is  only  removed  from  the  heart  of  the  city  by  a 
series  of  parks,  boulevards,  and  a  better  class  of  residen- 
tial development.  Beyond  it  to  the  north  and  west  is  another 
stretch  of  seven  miles  of  other  groups  of  cities  and  inter- 
vening broken  areas  before  the  city  limits  are  reached. 
This  description  will  serve  as  a  picture  of  what  is  true 
to  a  greater  or  less  degree  in  every  other  section  of  the 
city. 

It  is  forty  miles  around  the  chain  of  boulevards  which 
connect  and  hold  together  the  great  parks  on  the  west, 
south,  and  north  sides  of  the  city. 

The  Loop  district,  more  famed  by  its  name  and  char- 
acter than  any  other  spot  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  except- 
ing possibly  "Little  Britain"  in  London,  is  so  amazing 
as  to  be  highly  dramatic.  This  seething  caldron  of  com- 
merce, finance,  traffic  congestion,  and  humanity  embraces 
only  one-quarter  of  a  square  mile — one  eighth-hundredth 
part  of  the  entire  area  of  the  city.  In  this  little  patch 
— 'about  the  size  of  a  good  country  town  —  there  are 
nineteen  streets  east  and  west  and  north  and  south.  On 

190 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

fifteen  of  these  streets  are  street-car  tracks  and  cars  turn- 
ing in  all  four  directions  at  every  intersection.  There 
are  daily  ten  thousand  street  cars,  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
two  thousand  vehicles  of  other  sorts,  three  hundred  and 
twenty-three  thousand  working  population,  and  one 
million  one  hundred  thousand  floating  population.  This 
wildly  pulsating  heart  is  held  viselike  in  the  coil  of  the 
river,  which  bounds  it  on  two  sides,  the  railroads  on  the 
third,  and  the  lake  on  the  fourth.  The  river  is  spanned 
at  every  block  with  bridges,  of  which  there  are  twelve  in 
this  central  section.  This  constitutes  a  great  menace  to 
street  tralfic,  placing  a  burden  of  delay  and  congestion 
upon  the  entire  movement  and  traffic  system  of  the  city 
—  an  unnecessary  burden  which  should  no  longer  be 
tolerated,  as  sixty-eight  per  cent  of  the  lake  commerce 
is  now  going  on  to  lake  port  harbors  at  Calumet.  That 
portion  which  is  destined  for  the  Chicago  River  should 
not  be  there  at  all.  When  it  is  gone  and  supplanted  by 
lighterage  instead  of  deep-draft  vessels,  the  bascule  or 
open  type  of  bridge  will  go,  and  in  its  place  will  come 
stationary  structures  of  monumental  beauty  to  open  up 
the  congested  arteries  of  the  city's  street  system. 

Chicago's  retail  shopping  district  is  world  famous. 

In  no  city  of  any  country  may  one  delight  in  "  window 
shopping"  to  such  an  extent  as  is  afforded  on  State 
Street's  seven  blocks  of  intensively  developed  merchan- 
dising emporiums. 

The  show  windows  in  this  limited  section  measure  ten 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-four  lineal  feet.  One 
hundred  and  seventy-three  thousand  three  hundred  and 
forty-four  square  feet  of  solid  glass  form  a  veritable 

191 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

panorama  —  alluring,  enticing,  and  as  varied  as  the  wants 
of  man  and  pocketbook.  Nowhere  in  the  world  has  the 
art  of  window  decoration  received  so  much  attention, 
either  in  study  or  skilful  execution.  Window  artists 
from  all  the  big  cities  of  America,  and  even  from  across 
the  water  in  England  and  the  Continent,  visit  Chicago  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  studying  the  wonderful  window  dis- 
plays. One  of  Chicago's  great  retail  houses  has  been 
known  to  spend  between  sixty  and  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars  for  decorative  schemes  for  a  single  "opening" 
and  between  twelve  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars  per 
window  alone. 

The  shop  windows  are  remarkable  in  their  variety  and 
extent  of  merchandising  decoration  every  day  in  the 
year,  even  in  the  dullest  times,  and  during  the  spring 
and  fall  "  openings "  they  are  wonderful.  The  wealth 
of  merchandise  and  artistic  embellishment  and  the  high 
degree  of  art  execution  and  decorative  scheme  during 
these  notable  functions  are  not  only  stupendous  but  fas- 
cinating and  instructive.  Even  the  great  stores  devoted 
solely  to  the  cheapest  wares  lack  nothing  in  skilful  and 
elaborate  window  ornamentation. 

J.  Clarence  Bodine,  one  of  the  foremost  commercial 
artists  of  the  country,  who  has  been  connected  in  a 
large  way  with  store  window  decorative  art  in  the  lead- 
ing cities  of  America,  has  stated  that: 

"  The  proper  and  effective  display  of  merchandise  is 
considered  one  of  the  greatest  assets  toward  business 
building;  it  is  one  of  the  strong  fundamental  principles 
of  selling.  The  educational  value  of  this  principle  of 
display  cannot  be  overestimated. 

T()2 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

"  The  modern  show  window  is  the  means  whereby  mil- 
lions of  persons  that  seldom  visit  a  museum  of  art  have 
the  advantage  of  a  commercial  art  exhibit,  in  which  they 
can  view  a  valuable  art  and  an  art  with  a  purpose.  The 
example  of  art  absorbed  through  these  exhibits  gives  a 
sane  basis  upon  which  the  observer  can  build  safely  his 
attitude  toward  the  fine  arts. 

"  This  art  is  one  which  belongs  to  our  day,  our  own 
civilization,  and  is  one  which  is  self-supporting.  Our 
merchants  feel  that  they  do  not  spend  thousands  of  dol- 
lars in  this  work,  but  rather  that  they  have  made  a  suc- 
cessful investment.  Without  the  wonderful  show  win- 
dows the  department  store  would  be  and  appear  noth- 
ing more  nor  less  than  a  huge  warehouse. 

"  The  department  store  is  an  original  move  on  the  part 
of  State  Street  merchants  in  modern  merchandising,  and 
the  show  windows  of  these  stores  are  the  well-spring  of 
wonderful  settings  or  backgrounds  as  an  accessory  to 
the  proper  displaying  of  merchandise.  In  this  departure 
of  commercial  applied  art  Chicago  unquestionably  is  the 
pioneer  and  leader.  The  average  department  store  will 
spend  $60,000  per  year  for  show  window  space,  deco- 
rative settings,  and  maintenance." 

In  no  other  city  may  one  shop  with  the  comfort,  time, 
and  money  convenience  as  in  this  center  of  miniature 
World's  Fair  merchandising  fame  and  reality. 

In  richness  of  the  wares,  the  finest  department  stores 
compare  favorably  with  the  most  exclusive  specialty 
shops,  and  the  variety  far  exceeds  them. 

The  courteous  attention  of  salespeople  —  to  whom 
much  schooling  has  been  given  —  makes  shopping  pleas- 

193 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

ant  and  profitable.  Who  has  not  been  cheated  and  dis- 
appointed by  careless,  inattentive  clerks  in  establishments 
where  one's  exact  wants  could  easily  have  been  supplied  ? 
Volumes  could  be  written  of  such  experiences.  Chicago 
has  its  "nit-wits"  at  the  head  as  w^ell  as  the  foot  of  the 
business  ladder,  but  these  have  been  reduced  to  the  mini- 
mum in  the  better  way,  modern-day  school  of  efficiency. 
^^^J^scribing  a  shopping  tour,  a  lady  said  to  me,  "  ^^i^ 
stores',  they  are  wonderful;  unlike  anything  in  the  wo.rld ; 
and  I  have  visited  many  large  cities  in  America  and 
abroad.  You  can  shop  all  day  in  a  single  store  and  find 
anything  you  want.  You  do  not  have  to  hunt  all  over 
for  it.  It  is  there — -the  very  thing  you  desire,  high 
price  or  low." 

"  Isn't  that  true  of  other  cities.  New  York  for  ex- 
ample?"   I  asked. 

"  Chicago  is  distinctive  in  its  big  department  stores," 
was  thereply.  "Nothing  anywhere  can  compare  with 
them.  You  do  not  find  the  variety  in  a  single  store  in 
other  places.  They  specialize  in  certain  things  and  while 
they  aim  to  carry  everything,  you  quickly  find  that  is  not 
the  case.  In  Chicago,  when  you  are  in  a  quandary  as 
to  price,  not  knowing  whether  you  can  be  supplied  at  a 
minimum  price  instead  of  something  more  expensive, 
you  do  not  have  to  hunt  all  over  town  to  determine  this. 
What  you  want  is  there.  Besides,  the  clerks  and  de- 
partment heads  treat  you  as  though  you  were  a  visitor 
at  a  fair.  Even  when  you  do  not  wish  to  buy  anything 
but  only  to  "  look  around,"  you  are  conducted  about  and 
things  are  shown  and  explained  pleasantly  and  intelli- 
gently as  though  you  were  a  visitor  in  a  strange  land 

194 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

sightseeing.  Speaking  of  variety,  I  am  referring  to  staples 
and  regular  lines,  although  the  same  is  true  of  seasonable 
goods,  but  naturally  styles  vary  somewhat  as  to  location, 
but  Chicago  is  in  the  front  rank  as  a  style  center.  Chi- 
cago originates  styles  but,  in  perfect  fairness  to  this  side 
of  the  question,  what  is  stylish  in  New  York  may  not  be 
stylish  in  Chicago  and  vice  versa." 

Michigan  Avenue,  with  its  array  of  specialty  shops, 
exclusive  in  character,  is  at  all  times  one  of  the  world's 
most  fascinating  shopping  thoroughfares  and  an  alto- 
gether delightful  promenade.  Michigan  Avenue  delights 
one  with  its  shops,  as  much  as  Fifth  Avenue  and  the  Rue 
de  la  Paix,  and  to  these  it  adds  the  pleasure  of  spacious 
sidewalks.  The  vast  width  of  the  street  —  more  than 
twice  that  of  the  others  —  flanked  by  the  great  open 
space  in  Grant  Park  —  skirted  by  the  beautiful,  blue, 
dancing  waters  of  Lake  Michigan  and  the  yacht  harbor 
adjoining — truly  justifies  its  designation  as  Chicago's 
"  splendid  mile." 

While  in  most  large  cities  the  jobber  or  "  middleman  " 
is  largely  a  thing  of  the  past,  Chicago  still  excels  in  these 
oldtime  princes  of  wholesale  merchandise.  The  advan- 
tages believed  to  exist  by  certain  of  the  country's  retail 
dealers  in  purchasing  direct  from  the  maker  are  all  found 
in  the  greatest  of  all  "open  stocks"  in  the  wholesale  dis- 
trict. 

Factory  production,  on  the  other  hand,  loses  nothing 
of  distinction  in  Chicago.  " Made  in  Chicago"  week  has 
become  famous  throughout  the  great  western,  north- 
western, southwestern,  and  southern  empires  of  the 
United    States,    where    Chicago,    "The    Great    Central 

195 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Market,",  is  firmly  established.  During  this  unique  week 
the  great  retail  stores  throughout  the  city  display  in  their 
windows  and  on  their  counters  only  merchandise  "  made 
in  Chicago."  Vast  throngs  of  merchants  from  all  over 
the  country  visit  Chicago  on  buying  expeditions  at  this 
time. 

The  words  of  the  war  song,  Where  Do  We  Go  From 
Here?  surged  through  my  head  at  this  point  in  my 
narrative  about  Chicago. 

Chicago  is  so  complex,  so  many  sided,  so  intense,  so 
big  in  so  many  big  ways,  that  one  is  hard  pushed  to 
describe  the  city  by  any  formal  method  of  procedure. 

A  business  man  in  a  middle  western  city  said,  "  Chi- 
cago, I  detest  it;  what  can  you  find  in  it  to  keep  you 
there?" 

"  How  much  do  you  know  about  Chicago?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Oh,  I  knew  it  fairly  well  some  years  ago." 

"Have  you  seen  much  of  Chicago  recently,"   I  asked. 

"  No,  but  I  don't  like  it,"  he  replied,  "  that's  why  I  do 
not  visit  it  more  frequently." 

"  When  did  you  last  visit  Chicago  ? "  I  persisted. 

Slightly  perturbed,  the  color  mounting  to  his  face,  he 
blurted  out,  "  Oh,  I  think  it  was  thirty  years  ago,  but  I 
knew  the  place  well  then  and  I  didn't  like  it." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  thirty  years  is  a  long  time.  It  is  a 
longer  time  in  the  growth  of  Chicago  than  in  any  other 
large  city  in  existence.  Two  million  people  have  been 
added  to  its  population  in  that  short  period.  Thirty 
years  ago  Chicago  was  shooting  up  like  Jack's  bean  stalk. 
It  is  still  shooting  up.  It  has  never  ceased  to  shoot  up. 
What  you  saw  thirty  years  ago  and  did  not  like  were 

J96 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

growing  pains.  During  its  maturing  years,  it  has  been 
taking  on  form,  dignity,  culture,  establishment,  and  at- 
tractiveness, until  today  we  have  the  mighty  city,  vast 
in  area,  vast  in  architectural  development,  vast  in  enter- 
prise and  big  and  tolerant  in  all  things  and  toward  all 
people  —  a  city  with  a  soul  and  a  mind  to  achieve  its 
destiny." 

Thirty  years  is  not  long  in  the  life  of  most  great  cities 
but  ten  years  is  too  long  in  the  life  of  Chicago  for  any 
outsider  who  has  not  visited  it  in  a  decade  to  judge  the 

place. 

Dunng,jny_resid£nce  of  fourteen  years  in  this  city, 
physical  changes  have  been  wrought  that  appear  almost 
unbelievable,  and  in  that  time  I  have  witnessed  Chicago's 
soul  and  mind  expand  as  did  that  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  seek- 
ing the  way  and  that  of  Plato  seeking  the  light  of 
knowledge. 

An  eastern  scribe  who,  to  paraphrase  his  own  thought, 
was  not  actuated  by  a  *'  spirit  of  timidity,  of  regularity, 
of  safe  mediocrity,  who  looked  not  over  his  own  shoulder 
furtively  in  fear  that  he  may  have  done  something  that 
was  ncft  nice,"  in  contrast  to  some  of  his  eastern 
brethren  whom  he  described  as  "  afraid  to  be  themselves, 
afraid  above  all  of  being  Americans,  imitators  of  imita- 
tors, fourth-rate  Europeans  twice  diluted,"  said  of  Chi- 
cago: 

The  sharp  winds  from  the  lake  seem  to  be  a  perpetual 
antidote  to  the  Puritan  mugginess  of  soul  which  wars  on 
civilization  in  all  American  cities.  In  Chicago  originality 
still  appears  to  be  put  above  conformity.  The  idea  out 
there  is  not  to  do  what  others  do  but  to  do  something  they 

197 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

can't  do.      This   idea  is  the   foundation  of   all   artistic 
endeavor. 

Chicago  as  a  center  of  culture  will  occupy  another 
chapter,  but  before  we  leave  the  physical  city,  let  us  take 
a  turn  about  the  streets,  boulevards,  parks,  and  suburbs. 
The  fascination  and  beauty  of  these- are  comparable  to 
those  of  any  other  city.  In  some  respects  their  enchant- 
ment is  superior  to  all  others.  What  other  city  possesses 
a  drive  forty  miles  in  length  skirting  a  great  inland  sea, 
the  spray  of  which  in  turbulent  weather  dashes  over  it 
close  to  where  it  courses  the  business  heart?  Such  js 
Michigan  Avenue,  the  Lake  Shore  Drive,  and  Sheridan 
Road  which,  blended  with  the  boulevard  system  of  the 
south  side,  wend  their  way  from  the  South  Shore  Coun- 
try Club,  nine  miles  south  from  the  center  of  the  city, 
northward  thirty  miles  to  Lake  Forest  and  the  Great 
Lakes  Naval  Training  Station.     ' 

Starting  from  the  South  Shore  Country  Club  at  Sev- 
enty-first Street  on  the  Lake  Front,  one  may  travel  forty- 
four  miles  on  a  circuitous  tour  through  the  wonderful 
parks  and  over  the  connecting  boulevard  links  without 
doubling  back  or  crossing  the  city  limits. 

This  beautiful  journey,  requiring  several  hours,  will 
not,  in  fact,  take  the  tourist  nearer  to  the  southern  border 
of  the  city  than  nine  miles.  On  the  west  he  will  not  skirt 
the  limits  by  three  miles  or  get  nearer  to  it  than  six  miles 
on  the  north. 

I  have  traveled  in  eight  countries  but  I  have  yet  to  dis- 
cover a  city  where  a  wooded  drive,  continuous  for  nearly 
fifty  miles,  may  be  enjoyed  that  is  so  environed  and  inter- 
spersed with  beauty  spots;  objects  of  natural,  historical, 

198 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

and  art  value;  and  flowered  and  wooded  expanses  in 
never  ending  variety;  shot  through  with  sparkling  sun- 
light and  sentineled  by  the  blue  waters  of  a  great  lake. 

This  is  merely  a  circuit  of  the  boulevards  and  parks. 
It  does  not  include  the  miles  of  beautiful  streets  leading 
from  or  paralleling  this  circuit.  It  takes  no  count  of 
the  glorious  miles  of  avenues  dotted  with  enchanting 
villages  adjacent  to  the  city  limits  and  reaching  far  out 
on  the  rolling  prairies  westward  and  stretching  leagues 
northward  close  to  the  water's  edge  of  the  lake. 

We  shall  begin  our  boulevard  trip  from  the  South 
Shore  Country  Club,  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
attractive  in  America — a  country  club  (imagine  such 
luxury)  within  the  city  limits  midway  between  the  center 
and  the  edge  and  nine  miles  from  either.  Such  Edens 
of  ease  and  recreation  are  always  situated  far  from  the 
city's  noise  and  turmoil  and  away  from  its  citadels  of 
humming  industry. 

Leaving  the  portals  of  the  city-locked  country  club, 
the  passage  is  made  northward  skirting  the  club's  yacht 
harbor  where  myriads  of  pleasure  craft  are  constantly 
haveried.  Presently  Jackson  Park  is  entered  at  its  south- 
ern border.  Crossing  its  rich  acres  we  traverse  the  beau- 
tiful expanse  —  now  historic  —  which  once  housed  the 
world-famed  World's  Columbian  Exposition. 

Jackson  Park,  the  largest  of  all  of  Chicago's  wonder- 
ful parks,  almost  comprises  a  full  section  of  land.  Its 
five  hundred  and  forty-three  acres  contain  an  eighteen- 
hole  golf  course  and  a  smaller  one  of  nine  holes.  Golf 
is  here  free  to  the  public. 

To  the  right  of  the  large  course,  the  sojourner  first 

199 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

sees  a  sheltered  harbor  where,  riding  placidly  at  anchor, 
may  be  seen  two  of  the  caravels  of  the  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus expedition  to  America  in  replica  —  interesting 
relics  of  World's  Fair  days. 

Just  beyond  the  large  golf  course,  facing  the  lake  as 
if  in  eye  search  of  the  mariners  of  old  who  sailed  west- 
ward with  Columbus,  is  the  beautiful  statue  of  the  Re- 
public. In  commemoration  of  the  World's  Fair  site, 
upon  which  it  stands,  the  great  figure  forty  feet  in  height 
stretches  its  arms  aloft  to  the  skies  —  a  silent  and  majestic 
token  of  the  Old  and  New  World  proclaiming  the  dawn- 
ing of  an  everlasting  day  of  fruitful  expansion  and  se- 
curity for  all  mankind. 

Onward  to  the  north  a  far-flung  view  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan with  its  ocean-like  vastness  greets  the  eye.  Round- 
ing a  curve  in  the  lake  shore,  the  German  Building  of 
the  World's  Fair  —  a  gift  to  Chicago  from  the  German 
government  —  is  seen. 

Close  by  is  one  of  Chicago's  noted  bathing  beaches 
and  adjacent  is  a  picturesque  pier  for  the  protection  of 
small  craft,  where  in  rough  weather  the  sea  dashes  in 
majestic  splendor,  breaking  its  monster,  foaming,  seeth- 
ing mountains  of  liquid  beauty  against  its  formidable 
stone  antagonist. 

Turning  shoreward  past  the  smaller  golf  course  there 
is  fascinatingly  revealed  the  inspiring  sight  of  the  great 
Field  Museum  of  Natural  History.  Like  a  dream  of 
ancient  Athens,  the  home  of  one  of  the  world's  most 
valuable  museums  rises  in  all  its  weathered  glory,  for  this 
is  the  old  Fine  Arts  Building  of  the  World's  Fair. 

Opposite,   and   as   if   to   blend   the   ancient   with   the 

:?oo 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

present,  leading  out  of  the  park  are  long  avenues,  with 
palatial  residences  set  back  in  park  environment. 

Westward  from  the  museum  stretches  the  Midway 
Plaisance,  the  World's  Fair  Street,  then  universally 
know^n  as  "  the  street  of  all  nations."  This  bizarre 
thoroughfare  perhaps  did  more  to  advertise  the  exposi- 
tion than  any  other  of  its  many  wonderful  features. 

A  mile  in  length,  this  broad  mall  is  lined  on  the  left 
with  family  hotels  and  pleasure  gardens  and  on  the  right 
w'ith  the  towering  and  widely  dispersed  buildings  of  the 
great  University  of  Chicago.  Between  the  Midway  and 
the  University  buildings,  lies  a  great  stretch  of  sunken 
playgrounds  lined  with  stately  trees  like  the  country  roads 
of  France. 

The  Midway  connects  Jackson  and  Washington  parks 
—  two  of  the  greatest  pleasure  grounds  in  the  United 
States. 

Washington  Park  —  one-third  smaller  than  her  big 
sister  close  by,  yet  nevertheless  a  very  big  playground 
with  her  three  hundred  and  seventy-one  acres  —  is  some- 
what more  formal  in  her  landscape  architecture  than 
other  famous  Chicago  parks. 

Washington  Park  resembles  a  great  private  estate  of 
a  wealthy  man  —  cultivated  to  the  last  detail.  Tasteful 
in  its  platting  and  rich  and  restful  of  verdure,  it  is,  with 
the  exception  of  golf,  exceptionally  well  equipped  with 
games  and  sport  facilities  of  the  less  common  sort,  such 
as  archery  and  fly  casting.  It  has  magnificent  floral  ex- 
hibits in  its  mammoth  conservatory  and  is  unusual  in 
educational  botanical  facilities. 

Leaving  Washington  Park  via  Garfield  Boulevard,  the 

20 1 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

eight  mile  trip  to  the  west  side  parks  is  varied  and  in- 
teresting. The  first  of  the  great  municipal  gardens  sit- 
uated far  westward  from  the  lake  is  Douglas  Park.  The 
journey  in  six  sections,  over  boulevarded  streets  all  the 
way,  is  by  w^ay  of  Garfield,  Western,  Thirty-first,  Cali- 
fornia, Twenty- fourth,  and  Marshall  boulevards.  Over 
this  rectangular  course  many  interesting  features  of  the 
great  city  are  encountered.  Small  parks,  fine  residences, 
splendid  apartment  buildings,  small  shops,  public  institu- 
tions, churches,  reformatories,  hospitals,  grain  elevators, 
railway  shops,  mammoth  industrial  plants,  technical 
schools,  and  river, ^and  canal  passages  lie  along  the  route 
connecting  Washington  and  Douglas  parks. 

Directly  in  this  course  are  three  of  the  world's  most 
beautiful  and  completely  equipped  playgirounds  for  chil- 
dren  —  Sherman.  McKinley,  and  Gage  palrlcsj" 

Bisecting  it  are  the  Union  Stock  Yards  —  the  greatest 
in  the  world  —  the  intensively  developed  Central  Manu- 
facturing district  and,  cut  in  twain  by  it,  is  a  vast  area 
in  w'hich  are  domiciled  people  of  many  tongues  and  races. 

This  wonderful  chain  of  boulevards  varies  the  monot- 
ony of  commonplace  thoroughfares  and,  like  oases  in  a 
desert,  supplies  attractiveness  and  beauty  such  only  as' 
broad,  well-paved  street  expanses  lined  with  trees, 
flowers,  shrubs,  fountains,  and  statues  can  do. 

In  most  cities  boulevards  are  the  highways. oLthe_dch. 
In  Chicago  the  poor  and  rich  alike  share  in  their  fascinat- 
ing miles,  which  are  legion. 

Douglas  Park  contains  one  hundred  and  eighty-two 
acres.  It  is  replete  with  recreational  features,  designed 
to  delight  and  refresh  the  people  of  the  crowded  west 

202 


ll 


AH\><i?^ 


^^^ 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

side  with  the  kind  of  sports  denied  them  by  their  distance 
from  the  lake.  Swimming  pools,  a  natatorium,  and 
shower  baths  combined  with  all  manner  of  outdoor  sports 
are  well-springs  of  happiness  and  health. 

Next  in  this  galaxy  of  pleasure  and  nature  beauty  — 
two  miles  distant  from  Douglas  Park  —  is  Garfield  Park 
of  almost  the  same  size,  and  the  most  westerly  of  the 
three  big  west  side  pajrks  on  the  boulevard  circuit.  It  is 
reached  over  Douglas  and  Independence  boulevards. 

From  Garfield's  center,  leading  straight  to  the  Loop, 
the  city's  business  heart  five  miles  distant,  are  Jackson 
and  Washington  boulevards. 

On  the  way  over  from  Douglas  Park  are  numerous 
churches  and  synagogues,  for  this  is  in  the  Jewish  dis- 
trict. There  is  a  home  for  the  blind,  a  home  for  children, 
one  of  the  city's  finest  high  schools  —  truly  imposing  — 
and  then  is  reached  the  better  residential  district  of  the 
west  side.  But  before  that  the  panorama  has  recorded 
the  plant  of  the  greatest  mail-order,  merchandising  estab- 
lishment in  existence. 

Each  of  Chicago's  big  parks  is  distinguished  for  some- 
thing, each  having  its  own  specialty.  Garfield  goes  in 
for  orchids.  The  rarest  orchid  collection  in  America  is 
in  the  Garfield  conservatory,  which  is  the  largest  in  this 
country,  with  an  area  of  sixty-eight  thousand  square  feet. 
Its  superheated  department  is  gorgeous  with  high-colored 
tropical  plants.  In  the  show  house  are  the  orchids,  and 
the  fern  house  built  to  nature,  contains  great  tree  ferns 
and  lesser  members  of  the  fern  family. 

The  out-of-door  flower  gardens  in  this,  as  in  other 
_p3xks-,  are  beautiful  an4  varied  and  the  laTrdscapThg  and 

203 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

architectural  development  are  not  excelled  on  any  other 
continent.  Garfield  has  a  golf  course,  winter  skating,  and 
accommodations  for  many  forms  of  summer  sports. 

A  feature  to  be  found  in  most  Chicago  parks  is  the 
children's  playgrounds  and  swimming  pools,  and  excel- 
lent libraries  and  reading  rooms  operated  as  branches 
of  the  Public  Library,  in  most  of  the  park  field  houses. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  park*  of  them  all,  an  Eden 
of  natural  beauty  and  slightly  larger  than  her  west  side 
sisters,  is  Humboldt,  on  a  direct  north  and  south  line  with 
Douglas,  the  first  of  the  group,  reached  by  Franklin 
and  Sacramento  boulevards. 

The  peacefulness  of  Humboldt  is  imparted  by  the  skill 
oi  the  architect  who  planned  the  grounds,  walks,  and 
drives  that  strangely  secure  a  sense  of  seclusion.  Nature 
here  smiled  with  favor  upon  every  growing  thing  until 
the  whole  area  is  like  a  great  private  garden,  perfect  in 
appointment.  The  rose  gardens  are  famous  and  the  play- 
grounds are  complete. 

At  the  north  entrance  is  the  equestrian  monument  of 
Kosciuszko,  which  is  never  without  its  wreath  of  flowers 
from  his  devoted  countrymen. 

The  return  to  the  Jake  from  Humboldt  to  Lincoln  Park 
is  a  six  mile  zig-zag  north  side  trip  conforming  in  its 
course  almost  exactly  to  the  boulevard  connection  on  the 
south  side  between  Washington  and  Douglas  parks. 
Humboldt  Boulevard,  the  first  stretch,  is  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  long  and  four  hundred  feet  wide.  The  platting 
of  this  great  width  has  made  it  one  of  the  city's  finest 
boulevards,  though  less  than  a  mile  in  length. 

The   next   jog   is   westward    through   broad    Palmer 

204 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

Square  for  half  a  mile,  thence  northward  again  on  Ked- 
zie  Boulevard  for  the  same  distance  with  a  sharp  turn 
eastward  into  Logan  Square,  continuing  on  that  course 
a  mile  and  a  half  to  Diversey  Parkway,  where  there  is 
a  straight  easterly  run  of  three  miles  directly  into  Lincoln 
Park  at  its  inner  northern  connection  with  Sheridan 
Road. 

This  stretch,  with  the  exception  of  its  approaches  to 
the  parks  at  either  end,  has  little  interest.  In  the  vicinity 
of  the  north  branch  of  the  Chicago  River  are  many  fac- 
tories but  withal  the  connection  is  a  pleasing  drive  ter- 
minating at  the  mecca  of  all  park  sight-seers,  Lincoln 
Park. 

This  is  said  to  be  the  most  crowded  park  in  the  world 
and  is  the  most  fascinating  out-of-door  spot  in  all  Chi- 
cago. Stretching  like  a  ribbon  four  miles  along  the 
shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  it  is  ideally  located  and  the  most 
favored  playground  of  the  whole  city. 

Other  parks  are  admired  but  Lincoln  Park  is  loved 
like  an  old  and  true  friend.  Parks  are  like  people — it 
is  difficult  to  ''cotton  up"  to  some  of  them,  but  you  in- 
stantly experience  a  sense  of  intimacy,  of  familiarity 
with  Lincoln  Park.  Every  nook  and  cranny  draws  you 
like  the  beckoning  call  of  the  old  homestead.  Home 
again  —  a  sense  of  proprietorship  grips  one  immediately 
it  is  entered.  Welcome  is  in  its  atmosphere;  attraction 
invests  every  direction  and  situation. 

At  the  entrance  to  Lincoln  Park  the  circuit  tour  turns 
south,  but  Sheridan  Road  stretches  northward  along  the 
lake  all  the  way  to  Milwaukee,  passing  through  the  splen- 
did north  shore  suburbs  and  Chicago's  most  exclusive 

205 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

residential  district.  Entering  the  park,  there  is  a  choice 
of  three  driveways.  The  western  one  skirts  the  edge 
and  is  fronted  with  fine  residences  and  apartment  build- 
ings. The  inner  drive  courses  the  middle  and  the  outer 
one  borders  the  lake.  This  quay  stretches  from  the 
Municipal  Pier,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  miles  north- 
ward to  the  new  park  land  that  is  still  being  filled  in. 

Lincoln  Park  is  famous  for  its  zoological  garden  con- 
taining eighteen  hundred  animals ;  its  large  aviary,  with 
its  numberless  birds  of  every  variety,  is  a  never  ending 
delight  to  old  and  young;  its  old-fashioned  flower  gar- 
dens contain  six  hundred  varieties  of  native  flora  and  its 
conservatory  is  noted  for  its  annual  show  of  chrysan- 
themums. The  new  reclaimed  section  contains  a  fifty- 
seven  acre  yacht  harbor  and  adjoining  this  is  a  nine-hole 
golf  course.  Southward,  opposite  the  quay,  is  a  mile 
long  lagoon,  ideal  for  racing,  and  a  protected  harbor  for 
canoes  and  launches  which  are  docked  here  in  great  num- 
ber. Lincoln  Park  boasts  an  Academy  of  Sciences  con- 
taining two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  volumes  and 
many  cases  of  native  fauna.  Its  area  of  four  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  abounds  in  fine  statues,  the  most  noted 
of  which  is  St.  Gaudens'  statue  of  Lincoln,  said  to  be 
the  finest  work  of  that  great  master  and  likewise  the 
finest  statue  of  the  Great  Emancipator  ever  sculptured. 

The  various  nationalities  that  have  blended  so  har- 
moniously in  the  development  of  Chicago  have  given 
storied  bronzes  of  their  greatest  geniuses  as  artistic 
memorials  in  this  beautiful  pleasure  ground.  William 
Ordway  Pardridge  has  glorified  England  in  a  statue  of 
Shakespeare   "who   lived   not   for   an   age   but   for   all 

206 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

time;"  the  Danes  gave  their  master  of  childhood  folk 
lore,  Hans  Christian  Anderson;  the  Swedes,  their  genius 
of  plantology,  Linne;  the  Germans  gave  Goethe,  Schiller, 
and  Beethoven ;  Rubisso's  General  Grant  is  reckoned  one 
of  the  finest  equestrian  statues  in  the  United  States ;  and 
the  monuments  to  the  aborigines,  John  Boyle's  "  The 
Alarm,"  and  Henry  Dallam's  "The  Signal  of  Peace" 
are  notable  examples  of  the  sculptor's  art. 

On  the  approach  to  the  Lincoln  statue,  which  is  passed 
near  the  southern  entrance,  one  is  reminded  of  the  strik- 
ing resembance  of  the  immediate  environs  to  that  of 
Hyde  Park,  London,  from  its  approach  in  Rotten  Row. 
Southward  may  be  seen  the  towering  battlements  of  the 
city's  downtown  district.  Jutting  for  a  mile  out  into 
the  lake  is  the  great  Municipal  Pier.  On  the  left  is  the 
shore  drive,  lagoon,  and  long  narrow  intervening  island 
spanned  by  the  famous  high  bridge,  from  the  foot  of 
which  small  steamers  ply  between  Lincoln  and  Jackson 
parks. 

Touring  southward  from  Lincoln  Park  at  North  Ave- 
nue, back  to  Washington  Park,  the  distance  is  seven 
miles.  The  first  mile  is  on  Lake  Shore  Drive,  known  as 
the  "  Gold  Coast,"  because  of  its  solidly  built-up  area  of 
palatial  residences  of  the  wealthy.  Opposite  is  a  beau- 
tifully wooded  strip  and  the  southern  section  of  the 
Lincoln  Park  quay  which,  paralleled  by  an  outer  shore 
drive,  sweeps  in  a  graceful  curve  toward  the  mouth  of 
the  Chicago  River  a  mile  distant. 

From  the  crest  of  this  bend,  a  magnificent  view  is 
afforded  of  the  north  shore.  Twisting  and  turning  a 
broad  sweep  of  lake  and  sky  greets  the  eye  until  distance 

207 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

shuts  out  from  the  vision  one  of  the  most  glorious  vistas 
of  any  of  the  world's  great  centers.  That  bend  is  a 
superb  location  for  family  hotels  and  apartment  buildings 
of  the  first  rank. 

Midway  between  the  park  and  the  Chicago  River  is 
the  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church,  one  of  the  finest  Gothic 
structures  in  America.  The  second  mile  southward  is 
through  the  area  of  the  new  extension  of  Michigan  Ave- 
nue, which,  when  completed,  will  provide  Chicago  with 
an  unsurpassed  promenade  and  shopping  thoroughfare. 
•Already  it  is  spoken  of  as  the  Rue  de  la  Paix  of  Chicago. 

Next  is  reached  the  famed  Loop  —  the  business  heart 
of  the  city.  Passage  is  along  Michigan  Avenue,  known 
to  the  swagger  set  as  "  Boul.  Mich."  From  the  mammoth 
office  buildings,  hotels,  clubs,  and  theaters  towering  on 
the  left,  a  view  is  to  be  had  of  Lake  Michigan  and  the 
yacht  harbor  opposite. 

Lying  between  and  a  mile  in  length  is  the  broad  unde- 
veloped expanse  of  Grant  Park  containing  two  hundred 
and  five  acres,  in  which  are  located  the  Art  Institute  and 
the  Logan  monument. 

Back  of  Michigan  Avenue  is  the  roar  and  rush  of  mad 
traffic  distributing  itself  throughout  the  Loop.  Adjacent 
is  the  great  retail  shopping  district  and  back  of  that  the 
hotels  and  financial  district,  then  the  wholesale  market 
and  finally  the  river  again  —  the  south  branch  —  the  rail- 
way terminals  and  the  entrance  to  the  west  side. 

On  the  southern  border  of  Grant  Park,  extending  lake- 
ward  is  the  magnificent  new  Field  Museum  facing  the 
broad  northern  sweep  of  the  lake. 

Grant  Park  is  in  the  making.     Temporary  provision 

208 


DANIEL  CHESTER    FRE 


Chicago.     Statue  of  the  Republic,  Jackson  Park.    Erected  in  com- 
memoration of  the  World's  Fair  site  upon  which  it  stands. 


UEHARJ 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

has  been  made  for  athletic  work  and  already  many  fa- 
mous events  have  been  held  there.  During  the  war  it 
was  an  invaluable  rendezvous  for  military  mobilization 
and  activity.  The  north  section  skirting  Michigan  Ave- 
nue, where  final  operations  are  begun,  is  now  superbly 
adorned  with  a  Grecian  peristyle  and  fountain,  sunken 
gardens,  monumental  street  entrances  and  artistic  light- 
ing—  by  Architect  Edward  H.  Bennett.  Facing  south, 
imposed  against  the  Art  Institute,  is  the  Ferguson  Foun- 
tain of  the  Great  Lakes.  This,  by  Lorado  Taft,  Chicago's 
own  genius,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  pieces  of  sculp- 
ture in  America. 

Ultimately  there  is  planned,  a  great  stadium  and  other 
embellishments  in  Grant  Park,  designed  to  secure  the 
highest  utility  from  its  strategic  location.  What  a  boon 
to  a  great  city  is  a  park,  a  mile  long  and  half  as  wide,  in 
its  seething  heart,  flanked  by  a  vast  traffic  and  commerce 
on  one  hand  and  a  refreshing  ocean-like  expanse  on  the 
other. 

.  A  forerunner  of  what  it  may  be,  is  the  structure  on  its 
rim  of  the  Field  Museum,  architecturally  of  Grecian  con- 
ception, beautiful  and  stately,  all  of  white  marble,  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  feet  long  and  three  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  wide,  the  largest  marble  building  in  existence, 
costing  five  million  dollars. 

Onward  from  the  city's  heart,  the  tour  southward  is 
continued  two  miles  in  Michigan  Avenue  through  "  Auto- 
mobile Row,"  where  from  its  scores  of  sales  rooms  yearly 
is  sold  the  world's  greatest  retail  output  of  automobiles. 

Reaching  Thirty-third  Street,  one  has  the  choice  of 
three  routes  to  Washington  Park  —  two  miles  distant. 

209 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

He  may  continue  all  the  way  in  Michigan  Avenue, 
through  the  section  that  was  once  the  city's  most  fash- 
ionable residential  street,  but  is  now  given  over  largely 
to  business  and  apartment  buildings,  with  only  a  remain- 
ing trace  of  its  former  glory  to  remind  one  of  its  stately 
past.  Or  he  may  cross  over  lakeward  to  either  Drexel 
or  Grand  boulevards,  the  two  splendid,  fashionable,  in- 
teresting, and  beautiful  south  side  garden-ways. 

The  circuit  is  finished  —  wooded,  boulevarded,  parked 
all  the  way — forty-four  miles.  What  then  becomes  of 
the  scribe  who  designated  Chicago  as  a  "one  street 
town?" 

If  the  sight-seer  has  not  grown  weary  of  trees,  shrubs, 
flowers,  sky,  and  water;  if  his  soul  craves  not  the  things 
which  are  of  stone,  brick,  and  mortar;  if  monumental 
stores,  the  hum  of  traffic,  the  jostling  of  hurrying  work- 
ers, and  the  atmosphere  of  the  shop  and  factory  hold  no 
attraction  for  him,  he  yet  need  not  hie  to  distant  parts 
for  a  change  to  the  pleasures  of  nature.  Let  him  con- 
tinue from  the  rim  of  the  circuit  northward,  prospecting 
the  hidden  nooks  of  the  lake  or  boldly  assailing  the  nu- 
merous bathing  beaches,  private  and  public.  He  may  also 
find  joy  and  fascination  in  the  exploration  of  thirty  miles 
of  water-front  suburbs,  coves,  beaches,  and  bluffs.  Or  he 
may  find  what  he  seeks  in  some  of  Chicago's  fifty  other 
parks  or  in  other  of  its  fifty-two  boulevards  with  their 
seventy-four  miles  of  inviting  distance.  If  the  big  parks 
oppress  him  and  he  craves  little  nooks  for  quiet  and  seclu- 
sion, sixty-five  small  parks  beckon  him  to  their  leafy 
shadows. 

If  he  is  accompanied  by  his  children,  he  need  have  no 

2IO 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

anxious  thought  for  their  comfort  and  happiness.  In 
Chicago  children  are  not  a  problem.  They  are  a  delight 
and  they  are  delighting,  for  they  have  been  provided  with 
one  hundred  and  forty-three  playgrounds  easily  acces- 
sible from  all  parts  of  the  city  and  with  all  the  parapher- 
nalia of  childish  fancy  for  games  and  sports. 

There  are  five  golf  courses  in  the  parks  of  Chicago. 
The  playgrounds  and  sport  facilities  are  incomparable. 
No  city  on  any  continent  has  provided  its  people  with 
such  varied,  extensive  and  complete  avenues  for  health- 
ful and  joyous  recreation.  The  golf  courses  surrounding 
the  city  on  all  sides  are  more  numerous  and  conveniently 
located  than  those  of  any  other  city  in  America.  The 
people  of  Chicago  do  not  have  to  go  away  to  find  pleasure 
and  respite  in  attractive  and  beneficial  surroundings. 
These  abound  on  every  hand  and  are  doubtless  respon- 
sible in  large  degree  for  the  city's  low  death  rate. 

Chicago's  parks  are  the  best  in  the  world  as  nearly 
everybody  knows,  but  their  combined  acreage  is  insuffi- 
cient for  the  needs  of  the  people  and  large  plans  are  under 
way  for  extensive  acquisitions. 

The  desire  for  play  is  strongly  implanted  in  Chicago- 
ans.  They  work  on  the  proven  theory  that  a  strong  body 
makes  a  healthy  and  capable  mind,  and  these  they  know 
are  best  to  be  found  in  pleasant  relaxation  out  of  doors. 

Strangers  in  ever  increasing  numbers  are  finding  Chi- 
cago and  the  delights  it  offers  them.  The  mind,  as  well 
as  the  body,  they  have  discovered,  reaps  a  rich  harvest 
from  the  extraordinary  facilities  for  education  in  the 
parks.  School  children  haunt  them  in  search  of  knowl- 
edge of  important  subjects.     The  museums  and  libraries 

211 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

of  the  parks  alone  are  of  great  value  and  wide  range, 
while  the  student  of  horticulture  may  revel  in  a  maze 
of  research  of  the  widest  and  most  profitable  extent. 

"  Urbs  in  horto"  —  a  city  set  in  a  garden  —  that  is  the 
old  Latin  motto  which  Chicago  early  took  unto  itself. 
How  well  it  fits  has  here  been  revealed.  It  describes 
Chicago's  setting  precisely. 

Withal  it  must  not  be  imagined  that  Chicago's  parks 
are  sufficient  for  its  needs.  The  total  area  in  1918  was 
forty-six  hundred  acres  whereas  expert  investigation 
revealed  the  need  for  a  very  much  greater  area.  The 
city  has  plans  under  foot  for  the  reclamation  of  a  score 
of  miles  along  the  Lake  Front  for  park  lands  and  the 
creation  of  new  shore,  parks,  and  playgrounds.  Also 
there  is  being  developed  a  vast  chain  of  country  parks 
—  forest  preserves  close  to  and  surrounding  the  city  on 
its  three  sides  away  from  the  lake.  Ultimately  twenty- 
one  thousand  acres,  of  which  more  than  twelve  thousand 
have  already  been  purchased,  will  be  acquired.  The  Lake 
Front  from  the  north  suburbs  to  Jackson  Park  on  the  far 
south  will  be  almost  entirely  developed  to  yield  twenty 
miles  of  island  parkways  and  lagoons  to  contains  two 
thousand  acres  of  superbly  located  playgrounds  and 
drives. 

Chicago  is  in  the  making.  Arnold  Bennett  once  said 
he  left  prophesy  to  the  inspired.  I  shall  be  more  bold  and 
predict  that  in  fifty  years  Chicago  will  be  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  eagerly  sought  large  city  in  the  entire  world. 

There  are  those  who  say  it  will  be  the  biggest  —  that, 
I  am  willing  to  leave  to  the  "  inspired  "  but  attractive  and 
interesting  in  the  extreme  it  is  certain  to  become.     Its 

212 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

possibilities  are  unrivaled  and  its  energy  and  ambition 
are  prodigious. 

The  present  city  is  unattractive  as  viewed  from  the 
approach  by  railroad.  It  is  unfortunate  that  from  every 
railway  line  entering  the  city  the  stranger  sees  mostly 
factories,  and  mile  after  mile  of  dingy  workers'  dwellings 
and  large  open  stretches  or  sparsely  developed  areas. 

The  very  extent  and  location  of  the  railways  produce 
that  condition  and  effect.  To  gauge  the  real  Chicago  one 
must  not  judge  it  from  the  railway  approaches  nor  from 
a  hasty  expedition  about  its  streets  in  a  taxi.  To  know 
it  as  an  attractive  place  of  many  beauties  —  inspiring, 
impressive,  and  friendly  —  the  stranger  must  sojourn 
within  its  gates  and  penetrate  its  recesses,  social,  and 
physical.  Then  he  will  know  the  amazing  and  magnet- 
izing potentiality  of  the  present  city  and  he  will  sense 
and  feel  the  certain  greatness  and  beauty  of  its  future. 

The  growth  and  development  of  Chicago  has  been 
remarkable  even  for  American  cities.  Nothing  illustrates 
this  so  well  as  the  fact  that,  in  1828,  the  present  Loop 
district  was  fenced  in  as  a  cow  pasture.  Ninety  years 
later  this  pasture  for  cows  contained  one  hundred  and 
sixty-three  buildings  of  ten  stories  and  over. 

About  the  time  the  cows  had  nipped  the  pasture  pretty 
close,  Chicago's  mail  could  all  have  been  deposited  in  a 
dry-goods  box.  Eighty-seven  years  later  the  mail  volume 
of  receipts  had  increased  from  an  occasional  package  to 
an  annual  sum  of  $29,167,177.07. 

In  1834,  the  year  after  Chicago  was  made  a  village, 
the  tax  levy  was  forty-eight  dollars  and  ninety  cents.  In 
19 1 7,  eighty-three  years  later,  its  total  revenue  was  $80,- 

213 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

231,540.82  and  its  assessed  valuation  at  one-third  of  the 
real  vahie  was  $1,032,876,669. 

The  city  water  works  in  1834  consisted  of  a  well  sunk 
at  a  cost  of  ninety-five  dollars  and  fifty  cents.  When 
America  entered  the  Great  War  Chicago  had  five  thou- 
sand miles  of  water  and  sewer  mains. 

In  1843  hogs  were  barred  from  the  downtown  streets. 
In  19 1 7,  six  thousand  automobiles  crossed  a  single  bridge 
in  twelve  hours  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  thou- 
sand vehicles  of  all  sorts  entered  the  Loop  during  the 
same  time. 

In  1837,  when  Chicago  became  a  city,  the  population 
was  about  four  thousand.  In  191 7,  it  was  estimated  at 
three  million. 

The  terrible  fire  in  1871  nearly  wiped  out  Chicago's 
three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  It  was  the  great- 
est conflagration  of  modern  times.  An  area  of  three 
and  one-half  square  miles  and  seventeen  thousand  four 
hundred  and  fifty  buildings  were  destroyed.  The  property 
loss  was  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  million  dollars  and 
one  hundred  thousand  people  were  made  homeless. 

In  three  years,  scarcely  a  vestige  of  the  fire  remained, 
Work  on  the  new  city,  characteristic  of  the  famed  Chi- 
cago spirit,  was  begun  before  the  embers  were  cool,  and 
its  rebuilding  was  accomplished  with  incredible  rapidity. 
The  new  city  has  risen  stronger,  bigger,  and  wealthier 
than  before. 

The  World's  Columbian  Exposition  in  1892,  which 
commemorated  the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
discovery  of  America,  began  the  dawning  of  a  new  era 
for  Chicago.     On  the  site  of  668  acres,  188  acres  were 

214 


CHICAGO  MEN  AND  THINGS 

covered  by  buildings,  the  exposition  lasting  six  months 
and  admitting  27,539,521  people.  Remarkable  enterprise 
'  attended  the  whole  undertaking,  which  was  an  artistfc 
and  educational  triumph  of  a  character  which  amazed 
the  world. 

Is  it  strange  that  out  of  such  an  exposition  and  in  such 
a  city  as  Chicago,  ten  years  later  a  great  permanent  ideal 
affecting  the  entire  city  was  born  ? 

It  is  a  coincidence  not  to  be  marvelea  at  that  the  lead- 
ing architect  who  planned  and  executed  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  —  Daniel  H.  Burnham  —  con- 
ceived and  created  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  a  plan  for  more 
and_bel]£r.parks;^i.f„thejatter  be  possible;  wider,  and  more 
properly  connected  streets ;  reclamation  of  the  south  shore 
Ea'ke  Front  for  thirteen  hundred  acres  ol  parks  and  play- 
grounds; improvement  and  coordination  of  railway  ter- 
minals and  the  acquisition  of  thousands  of  acres  of  fofest 
preserves  crose' to  but  outside 

Nor  is  it  a  mere  coincidence  that  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  —  Charles  H. 
Wacker — afterward  became  custodian  of  this  plan  as 
chairman  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission,  charged  with 
the  promotion  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago. 

The  spirit  of  Chicago's  pioneers  who  coped  with  the 
red  man,  who  saved  Fort  Dearborn  from  destruction, 
who  changed  the  course  of  the  Chicago  River  at  its 
mouth,  who  under  great  deprivation  and  natural  barriers, 
founded  the  great  city,  and  the  spirit  of  the  martyrs  of 
seventy-one,  and  of  the  enthusiasts  of  ninety-two,  is  the 
indomitable  spirit  of  the  practical  idealists  of  the  pres- 
ent city  —  a  city  achieving  its  destiny. 

21:; 


CHAPTER  XII 

INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES MUSIC,  ART, 

AND  AUTHORS 

THE  true  estimate  of  a  city,  like  the  true  appraise- 
ment of  an  individual,  is  found  in  moral  and  edu- 
cational worth. 

The  refining  utilities  of  Chicago  are  varied,  superior 
in  scope  and,  in  some  instances,  supreme. 

Chicago  has  no  class  of  snobs  —  no  so-called  " gentry" 
as  in  some  old  countries  where  these  comprise  the  "  cul- 
tured class."  A  very  few  hopelessly  asinine  people  in 
the  United  States  —  mostly  eastern  —  have  tried  to  make 
themselves  into  *'  gentlefolk  "  by  aping  foreigners.  All 
they  produced  was  a  poor  imitation  of  a  poor  thing.  The 
leisure  class  of  the  United  States  was  the  spoiled  off- 
spring of  over-indulgent  parents.  The  Great  War  put 
an  end  to  that.  It  took  the  girls  as  well  as  the  boys. 
The  men  of  Chicago  who,  measured  by  their  wealth 
alone,  would  be  admitted  to  the  station  of  Englishmen 
and  Europeans  of  the  "upper  class "  have  too  much  good 
sense  and  good  taste  to  aspire  to  that  estate.  Chicago's 
wealthy  men  are  democratic  and  of  the  people.  Chi- 
cago's wealthy  women  —  God  bless  them  —  are  regular 
human  "beings  without  social  frills  or  furbelows.  They 
belong  to  the  community  and  are  loved  and  respected  by 
it.    What  then  makes  up  the  cultured  class  of  Chicago? 

216 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

The  whole  people  given  to  mental  and  spiritual  improve- 
ment. 

Large  cities  contain  the  greatest  advantages  for  moral 
and  educational  advancement  and  the  most  enterprising 
agencies  of  self -debasement. 

Chicago's  advantages  and  disadvantages  are  of  a  parity 
with  any  other  city.  It  is  because  so  many  writers  pre- 
fer to  exploit  its .  disadvantages  that  a  word  about  its 
better,  inner  self  may  be  pardonable.  Besides,  a  survey 
of  its  moral  and  educational  utilities  will  serve  to  empha- 
size the  city's  position  in  city  planning  and  will  in  some 
measure  account  for  its  great  practical  ideal  —  the  Plan 
of  Chicago. 

Perhaps  no  truer  expression  of  the  culture  of  a  city 
can  be  found  than  in  the  degree  of  its  ambition  for  at- 
tractive surroundings  and  orderly  development  and  in 
its  concern  for  healthful  recreation  and  hygienic  su- 
premacy. . 

Cities  house  the  noblest  and  the  basest  men  and  women, 
the  finest  cultural  institutions  and  the  lowest  dens  of 
iniquity,  the  best  humanitarian  facilities  and  the  worst 
hovels  of  misery  and  disease.  The  elevation  of  the  one 
or  the  other  is  the  measure  of  the  power  of  those  influ- 
ences which  stand  for  the  betterment  of  the  people. 

The  conflict  between  the  opposing  elements  of  good 
and  evil  is  relentlessly  waged  in  Chicago,  as  it  is  in  New 
York,  Paris,  London,  Berlin,'  or  any  other  great  city. 
The  difference  is  that  Chicago  has  a  complex  citizenry 
more  aggravated  than  the  others.  This  is  not  a  disad- 
vantage; it  only  increases  the  difficulty  of  adjustment 
to  local  government  and  orderly  influences. 

217 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Chicago  has  a  larger  floating  population  than  any  other 
city  in  the  country,  but  its  percentage  of  crime  is  less 
than  those  of  first  rank. 

Just  why  anyone  should  set  forth  the  cultural  advan- 
tages of  Chicago  is  not  quite  apparent  on  the  face  of 
things.  Pondering  the  matter,  two  plausible  reasons 
make  it  desirable  to  place  emphasis  upon  them. 

Business  leaders  —  educated  men  —  who  know  what 
Chicago  possesses  of  educational  worth,  until  recently, 
have  overlooked  the  importance  and  desirability  of 
attracting  attention  to  that  side  of  Chicago's  make-up 
not  represented  in  stocks,  bonds,  balance  sheets,  mer- 
chandise, and  transportation. 

"  Business,"  of  course,  "  is  business ; "  but  upon  what 
does  business  thrive?  Those  things  which  make  for  effi- 
ciency, moral  worth,  education,  refinement,  and  good 
order. 

The  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce — splendid 
body  —  coined  the  expression,  "Chicago,  the  Great  Cen- 
tral Market."  That's  all  right.  It  describes  commer- 
cial Chicago  exactly.  In  the  early  days  of  that  remark- 
able organization,  however,  the  executives,  in  various 
meetings  and  various  propaganda,  told  the  exclusive  story 
of  Chicago's  bank  clearings,  value  of  building  permits, 
annual  export  and  import  of  merchandise  and  manu- 
factured commodities,  miles  of  railroads,  and  rapid  in- 
crease in  population.  These  reports  —  good  and  desirable 
—  would  not  have  been  dimmed  by  blending  them  with 
the  other  and  less  material  side  of  Chicago's  life  and 
development. 

Business,  business,  business!    Everyone  in  and  about 

218 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Chicago  has  continually  and  eternally  talked  business, 
lived  business,  almost  eaten  business.  This  energizing, 
commercialized  gospel  of  business  has  taken  hold  and 
spread,  since  Chicago  was  a  budding,  hustling,  expand- 
ing metropolis,  until  outsiders  have  come  to  regard  it  as 
a  city  without  a  soul. 

We  think  more  of  a  business  man,  and  we  instinctively 
trust  him  when  we  know  his  finer  side. 

Business  men  are  recognizing  this  and  spreading  the 
ideals  of  moral  and  educational  advancement  among  their 
employes  and  in  their  propaganda.  Cooperation,  not 
competition,  will  be  the  watchword  of  tomorrow. 

In  1912  the  Council  for  Library  and  Museum  Exten- 
sion sensed  the  need  of  exploiting  Chicago's  educational 
advantages,  and  issued  a  telling  booklet  entitled.  Educa- 
tional Opportunities  in  Chicago.  This  council  was  lib- 
erally supported  in  its  work  by  the  Chicago  Association 
of  Commerce,  indicating  that  this  large  and  influential 
body  was  at  last  awake  to  the  value  of  promotional  effort 
in  educational  lines. 

The  foreword  of  the  council's  booklet  shows  eighteen 
of  the  city's  leading  libraries,  museums,  and  social  insti- 
tutions combined  for  the  purpose  of  "giving  publicity 
to  Chicago's  educational  system"  and  "to  take  stock  of 
Chicago's  educational  resources." 

The  work  of  the  council,  the  booklet  says,  was  "out- 
lined along  two  lines  —  publicity  and  coordination. 
Firstly  it  is  realized  that  the  educational  activities  of  the 
city  must  be  called  to  the  attention  of  the  public  more 
clearly.  The  second  task  proposed  lies  in  the  coordina- 
tion of  the  educational  work  of  the  city."     Further  the 

219 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

foreword  says,  "A  general  supervisory  body  is  needed 
to  conserve  the  city's  educational  energy  and  to  give  to 
it  direction  into  the  channels  of  greatest  opportunity  and 
most  pressing  needs."  A  worthy  movement  indeed,  and 
ably  organized.  This  was  the  first  concrete  effort  of 
educational  forces  to  speak  unitedly  for  the  thing  Chicago 
had  so  long  neglected.  In  this  the  council  has  accom- 
plished a  greater  thing  for  the  nation  and  its  city  than 
it  knew. 

Chicago  has  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  distinct  insti- 
tutions, devoted  to  every  branch  of  the  arts  and  sciences, 
including  the  libraries  and  museums. 

In  two  things  Chicago  is  unsurpassed  in  this  country 
—  its  art  school  of  the  Art  Institute  and  its  musical  edu- 
cational institutions. 

Its  excellent  public  school  system  embraces  twenty-one 
high  schools  and  two  hundred  and  seyenty-two  elemen- 
tary schools,  a  teachers'  college  for  the  training  of  teach- 
ers, and  various  other  schools  for  special  purposes. 

The  total  enrollment  of  the  public  schools  in  1917  w^as 
360,639. 

The  churches  of  Chicago  number  twelve  hundred. 
These  both  directly  and  indirectly  constitute  the  strong- 
est moral  force  in  the  community.  A  city  of  churches 
is  a  city  of  good  government,  good  manners,  and  good 
morals.  Religious  teaching  and  instruction  is  the  foun- 
dation of  all  refinement  and  finer  education,  although  this 
viewpoint  may  not  be  generally  accepted. 

A  city  with  a  good  public  school  system  and  plenty  of 
churches  need  not  worry  about  its  position  in  the  world 
of  culture. 

220 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Music — a  big  thing  in  our  lives — is  the  biggest  cultural 
element  in  Chicago.  All  unbiased  authorities  will  agree 
that  Chicago  is  the  foremost  music  center  of  the  country. 

Aside  from  the  great  American  diversion  of  reading, 
nothing  is  more  universal  in  its  aesthetic  appeal  than 
music  and  it  is  now  conceded  that  this  country  surpasses 
all  others  in  its  support  of  music.  Within  a  decade  it  has 
become  proverbial  that  a  house  without  a  piano  is  a  place 
minus  a  necessary  furnishing.  Since  the  introduction  of 
mechanical  players  which  make  dumb  pianos  eloquent, 
and  the  phenomenal  popularity  of  the  talking  machine, 
it  would  appear  that  taste  for  music  is  approaching  desir- 
able culmination.  A  music  lover  in  Chicago,  a  few  years 
ago,  declared  in  a  public  address,  that,  "  Music  has  passed 
from  the  stage  of  luxury  to  that  of  a  veritable  essential 
in  American  life,"  and  facts  seem  to  fortify  the  sound- 
ness of  his  statement. 

While  mechanical  aids  are  cited  to  indicate  material 
progress,  the  human  factor  is  still  the  preeminent  force 
that  breathes  life  and  puts  soul  into  music  and  the  allied 
arts.  The  talking  machine  and  the  moving  picture  are 
two  tremendously  popular  factors  to  be  reckoned  with 
in  the  current  equation  of  amusement.  The  first  named 
engraves  the  greatest  voices  of  the  world  and  records 
the  technique  of  the  finest  instrumentalists  and  the  en- 
semble of  the  most  notable  orchestras,  yet  it  lacks  the 
enframement  of  face  and  figure  and  psychic  personality 
in  its  almost  miraculous  reproduction.  The  cinema  has 
modernized  the  potential  art  of  pantomime  and  given  it 
astonishing  and  attractive  visualization ;  still  it  lacks  con- 
vincing and   temperamental   values   and   the  unequaled 

221 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

charm  of  the  human  voice  as  well  as  the  stereoscopic 
value  of  life  in  the  round.  These  mechanisms  and  illu- 
sions, wonderful  as  they  are,  do  not  equal  or  compensate 
for  the  personality  of  the  Thespian  or  satisfy  like  the 
singers  of  the  operatic  stage  whose  art  is  allied  with  many 
others  in  its  wide  range  of  expression.  The  value  of  the 
theater  and  the  charm  of  the  opera  remain  unrivaled  in 
satisfying  the  visual  and  auricular  senses  by  the  fullness 
of  their  art,  expressiveness  of  nature,  and  the  sweep  of 
the  imagination.  A  musical  authority  in  discussing  with 
me  Chicago's  position  in  the  music  world,  declared : 

It  is  only  recently  that  the  value  of  music  as  a  civic 
asset  has  been  thoroughly  appreciated.  Formerly  it  was 
esteemed.  A  fine  art  museum,  a  superb  orchestra,  and  an 
imposing  operatic  organization  were  sufficient  for  the  re- 
laxation of  busy  people  wearied  with  commercial  pur- 
suits. Although  Chicago  possessed  these  artistic  at- 
tributes, she  was  modest  in  her  exploitation,  but  now  that 
her  leadership  has  become  marked,  the  things  that  led 
up  to  these  achievements  have  a  new  interest. 

Thomas  Alva  Edison  says : 

You  ask  me  if  music  is  a  human  essential.  To  the  Es- 
quimau or  South  Sea  Islander,  no.  To  the  American, 
Englishman,  Frenchman,  Italian,  yes.  Mere  existence 
demands  nothing  but  food,  drink,  clothing,  and  shelter. 
But  when  you  attempt  to  raise  existence  to  the  higher 
plane,  you  have  to  nourish  the  brain  as  well  as  the  body. 
I  don't  think  there  is  any  sane  person  who  w^ould  say  that 
books  are  unessential  to  the  maintenance  of  our  civiliza- 
tion in  America.  Yet  after  its  school  days,  probably  less 
than  one-fourth  of  our  population  reaas  with  serious  pur- 
poses.    Music  is  more  essential  than  literature,  for  the 


(u  en  i>  3   r-  r; 


1-   ,,^  g 


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tin    I-    C  <=<    1;  CL  CJ 


LlLRARt 
OF  THE 
UNlVERSlTy  0"  lUJNO 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

very  simple  reason  that  music  is  capable  of  releasing  in 
practically  every  human  mind  enlightening  and  ennobling 
thoughts  that  literature  evokes  in  only  the  most  erudite 
minds. 

Music  next  to  religion,  is  the  mind's  greatest  solace, 
and  also  its  greatest  inspiration.  The  history  of  the 
world  shows  that  lofty  aspirations  find  vent  in  music, 
and  that  music  in  turn  helps  to  inspire  such  aspiration 
in  others.  Military  men  agree  that  music  is  essential  to 
soldiers  both  in  camp  and  in  action.  Music  is  not  less 
essential  to  those  the  soldiers  leave  behind  them.  In- 
stead of  decrying  music  the  demagogues  and  others, 
whose  hysteria  or  self-consciousness  has  distorted  their 
vision  and  befuddled  their  brains,  should  urge  the  nation 
to  make  music,  to  hold  more  concerts,  to  have  more  com- 
munity singing — in  short  to  do  everything  that  reason- 
ably can  be  done  to  make  America  a  singing  nation. 

Harking  back  to  the  city's  beginning  gives  a  happy 
hint  for  the  present  estate  of  music.  John  Kinzie,  the 
Indian  trader  and  first  white  settler,  it  is  recorded,  had 
more  use  for  his  fiddle  than  for  his  rifle,  and  even  when 
Chicago,  as  a  settlement,  was  farthest  west  in  the  wilder- 
ness, music  became  its  relaxation.  The  municipality  was 
barely  twenty  years  old  when  it  had  three  music  dealers, 
and  the  first  piano  was  made  in  Chicago  early  in  the 
fifties.  The  only  piano  house  surviving  the  1858  period 
is  still  in  existence  and  its  instruments  are  still  standard. 

A  report  of  the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce  pub- 
lished in  1913  claimed  that  within  the  radius  of  its  com- 
mercial activities  sixty  per  cent  of  the  250,000  pianos 
annually  made  in  the  United  States  were  Chicago 
products. 

Chicago  is  now  said  to  make  violins  in  larger  number 

223 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

than  any  other  city  in  the  world,  besides  guitars,  mando- 
lins, band  instruments,  and  high  priced  harps.  It  is  like- 
wise the  largest  fabricator  of  sinew  strings  and  drum 
heads. 

Chicago  possesses  the  world's  foremost  music  house, 
distinguished  by  the  magnitude  of  its  business,  the  extent 
of  its  territory  and  the  scope  of  its  stock.  It  annually 
does  a  business  of  over  seven  million  dollars.  Its  rec- 
ord for  the  sale  of  fine  old  violins  is  world-famed. 

In  the  realm  of  the  pipe-organ  Chicago  also  has  the 
leading  house.  Once  "the  king  of  instruments"  was 
almost  exclusively  confined  to  churches ;  now  every  m.ov- 
ing  picture  theater  of  consequence  demands  one  as  a  part 
of  its  equipment. 

Another  angle  of  musical  interest  is  the  local  posses- 
sion of  the  largest  mail-order  music  publishing  house  in 
the  world,  the  prints  of  both  its  popular  and  teaching 
hbraries  running  into  millions.  Of  its  output,  perhaps 
no  one  song  has  gone  farther  around  the  world  than  Mrs. 
Carrie  Jacobs  Bond's  The  End  of  a  Perfect  Day,  a  Chi- 
cago composition  and  publication. 

These  are  sixty  music  publishers  in  Chicago.  So  much 
for  the  commercial  side  of  Chicago  as  a  center  of  music. 
These  are  evidences  that  here  music  has  become  a  habit, 
if  it  is  not  a  birthright. 

Aside  from  these  material  matters,  there  are  splendid 
contributory  influences  to  Chicago's  musical  advantages 
in  that  the  city  is  the  abiding  place  of  many  skilled  musi- 
cians. The  American  Federation  of  Musicians  lists  in 
its  local  chapter  over  three  thousand  instrumentalists 
belonging  to  bands  and  orchestras,  and  the  Colored  Mu- 

224 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

sical  Union  has  a  membership  of  eighteen  hundred. 
Nearly  all  of  these  players  have  pupils  outside  of  the 
music  schools.  It  is  estimated  that  Chicago  has  five 
thousand  teachers  of  music  and  if  each  had  twenty  pupils, 
there  would  be  a  hundred  thousand  pay  pupils  in  the  city. 

As  nearly  three  hundred  thousand  pupils  in  the  public 
schools  receive  vocal  instruction  gratis,  the  volunteer 
army  being  raised  for  the  appreciation  of  music  is  sig- 
nificant and  growing  from  year  to  year. 

Out  of  Chicago's  ninety-seven  music  schools,  only  a 
fev^  can  be  named,  but  they  are  impressive  in  their  enrol- 
ment. The  New  England  Conservatory  of  Boston,  said 
to  be  the  largest  school  in  the  East,  claims  three  thousand 
pupils ;  but  the  Chicago  Musical  College  claims  over  four 
thousand  pupils  or  accounts ;  the  American  Conservatory 
admits  three  thousand;  the  Columbia  School  of  Music, 
sixteen  hundred ;  and  Bush  Temple  Conservatory,  fifteen 
hundred.  Other  representative  institutions  are  —  Chi- 
cago Conservatory,  Sherwood  School,  Cosmopolitan 
School,  Chicago  Piano  College,  Balatka  Musical  College, 
Mary  Wood  Chase  School,  Hinshaw's  School,  Illinois 
College  of  Music,  Ziegfeld  Musical  College,  Centralizing 
School  of  Music,  etc.  A  unique  institution  is  the  Uni- 
versity Extension  Conservatory  —  a  correspondence 
school  that  has  sixty  thousand  pupils  scattered  all  over 
the  world.  These  figures  indicate  that  Chicago,  as  a 
musical  educational  center,  is  second  to  none. 

Supplementing  these  instructive  advantages  is  the 
music  department  of  the  Newberry  Library.  This  col- 
lection includes  works  on  the  history  and  theory  of  music, 
collected  works  on  composers,  hymnology,  and  orchestral 

225 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

scores.  The  music  division  of  the  Newberry  Library  is 
notable  for  its  useful  and  unusual  works  needed  by  the 
student  and  the  historian  of  music.  The  first  list  of  books 
recommended  for  it  was  drawn  up  by  George  P.  Upton, 
the  well-known  authority.  In  1889  the  musical  library 
of  Count  Pio  Resse  of  Florence,  Italy,  was  acquired  by 
purchase.  This  included  a  very  large  number  of  rare  and 
famous  titles  and  was  particularly  rich  in  works  written 
by  Italian  authors  on  the  theory  and  history  of  music. 
In  1891  the  Hubert  P.  Main  collection  of  English  and 
American  psalmody  was  acquired.  A  notable  benefac- 
tion to  this  department  was  the  library  of  Theodore 
Thomas,  which  was  given  by  his  family.  It  comprises 
the  printed  works  on  music  which  he  used,  a  set  of  his 
concert  programs  complete  from  the  beginning  of  his 
musical  career  in  1855,  and  the  music  scores  used  by  him 
in  conducting,  with  the  manuscript  changes  or  directions 
made  by  him  in  their  original  text.  This  valuable  begin- 
ning has  been  judiciously  increased  from  year  to  year. 

The  big  choral  organizations  of  Chicago  came  first  in 
line  of  establishment  for  giving  music  of  the  highest 
class.  The  pioneer  vocal  body  is  the  Apollo  Musical  Club 
now  in  its  forty-fifth  year.  Formerly  it  gave  four  con- 
certs a  season  and  a  Christmas  oratorio.  Then  it  had 
little  or  no  competition.  Now  it  gives  but  three  concerts. 
Among  other  notable  organizations  are  —  Mendelssohn 
Club,  Irish  Choral  Society,  ^Musical  Art  Society,  Bach 
Choral  Society,  Chicago  Philharmonic,  Marshall  Field 
Choral  Society,  American  Choral  Society,  Edison  Choral 
Club,  Chicago  Sing\'erein.  Evanston  Musical  Club, 
and    the     Swedish     Choral     Society.       The    estimated 

226 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

annual  receipts  of  these  are  seventy-five  thousand  dollars. 

There  are  or  were  a  hundred  German  singing  clubs, 
not  counting  Sennefelder  Liederkranz,  and  Germania 
Maennerchor,  and  a  numl:)er  of  Bohemian,  Italian,  Nor- 
wegian, Polish,  Swedish,  Lithuanian  clubs  —  whose  ag- 
gregate receipts  add  thirty  thousand  dollars  more  to  the 
local  score. 

A  very  important  musical  enterprise  is  the  North  Shore 
Music  Festival  giving  four  concerts  the  last  of  May  in 
the  gymnasium  of  the  Northwestern  University  (seating 
fifty-four  hundred).  Its  ninth  season,  19 17,  netted  twen- 
ty-five thousand  dollars  in  receipts  and  the  management 
claimed  the  sales  of  the  19 18  season  considerably  sur- 
passed those  figures.  It  has  a  chorus  of  one  thousand 
voices,  employs  a  fine  symphonic  orchestra  and  its  solo- 
ists are  the  best.  For  the  19 18  season  its  fifty-four  boxes 
and  ninety  per  cent  of  the  seats  were  sold  six  weeks  in 
advance  of  the  opening. 

The  Civic  Music  Association  was  created  in  1913.  Its 
object  is  to  promote  and  encourage  the  understanding, 
appreciation,  and  study  of  the  art  of  music  and  the  devel- 
opment of  musical  talent  throughout  the  community, 
principally  by  providing  musical  entertainment  and  in- 
struction gratuitously  or  at  little  expense  in  the  small 
parks  and  playgrounds  and  other  civic  centers. 

The  steps  which  have  been  taken  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  these  objects  are — the  establishment,  in  the 
various  park  systems  and  public  schools,  of  choral  soci- 
eties for  both  adults  and  children  under  the  direction  of 
some  of  Chicago's  best  musicians ;  the  arranging  of  free 
Sunday  afternoon   concerts   in   the  field   houses   of   the 

227 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

parks,  where  the  programs  are  given  by  local  musicians 
of  recognized  standing;  and  community  singing  in  con- 
junction with  orchestral  concerts  during  the  summer 
months  at  the  Municipal  Pier  and  in  the  parks. 

All  of  these  activities  have  grown  and  flourished  from 
the  very  beginning  of  this  splendid  organization.  The 
value  of  the  choral  work,  particularly  that  of  the  children, 
cannot  be  overestimated.  The  work  is  carried  on  princi- 
pally among  the  foreign  elements  of  the  city. 

The  effects  of  Americanization  through  singing  are 
far-reaching.  It  does  not  stop,  however,  with  teaching 
the  children  our  national  songs  in  English,  for  they  carry 
the  influence  into  their  own  homes,  which  reacts  in  many 
advantageous  ways. 

The  community  singing  during  the  summer  months 
(unfortunately  the  city  has  no  available  hall  centrally 
located  for  winter  work)  has  been  most  successful. 
Audiences  varying  from  two  to  six  thousand  people  have 
approved  these  concerts.  This  work  is  really  a  great 
civic  expression  and  is  a  most  active  bit  of  leaven  in  the 
cause  of  democracy.  At  the  "  Sings  "  one  may  find  peo- 
ple from  all  walks  of  life  joining  in  the  singing.  Preju- 
dices and  distinctions  are  forgotten  for  the  time  being 
in  the  common  enjoyment  of  the  moment.  There  is  no 
doubt  concerning  the  influence  for  good  which  this  par- 
ticular activity  exerts,  and  plans  are  being  completed  for 
the  extension  and  enlarging  of  the  association's  com- 
munity work. 

The  singing  work  at  the  United  States  Naval  Training 
Station  at  Great  Lakes  was  begun  by  the  Civic  Music 
Association.     During  the  training  of  the  men  there  in 

228 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

the  Great  War,  there  was  an  attendance  of  three  to  five 
thousand  enthusiastic  Jackies  singing  patriotic  songs  in 
the  "Ravine."  From  one  evening  a  week  the  work  grew 
to  three  days  a  week,  and  finally  the  entire  time  of 
Herbert  Gould,  "  song  leader,"  was  taken  over  by  the 
government  as  one  of  its  regularly  appointed  song  leaders 
working  in  conjunction  with  the  War  Recreation  Board. 

The  funds  of  the  association  are  obtained  through 
public  subscription.  Membership  may  be  obtained  for 
any  contribution  ranging  from  fifty  cents  upward. 

This  association  has  filled  a  definite  need  in  Chicago  by 
bringing  good  music  to  a  great  number  of  people  lx)th  by 
hearing  and  participation.  It  has  brought  them  happi- 
ness and  an  appreciation  of  the  finer  things  of  life. 

The  Civic  Music  Association  has  inspired  other  activi- 
ties of  importance  to  the  city,  notably  in  the  popular  con- 
certs of  the  Chicago  Symphony  Orchestra  which  were 
suggested  by  the  City  Club.  Probably  never  before  in 
the  history  of  music  in  any  American  community  has 
such  an  aggregation  of  artists  ministered  for  an  insig- 
nificant price.  The  popularity  of  these  concerts  has  been 
phenomenal. 

The  Paulist  Choristers  of  Chicago  is  America's  most 
famous  boys'  choir.  Organized  by  Father  William  Finn, 
the  boys,  one  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  each  year  give 
a  grand  concert,  and  they  succeeded  in  capturing  the 
Paris  and  Philadelphia  medals. 

The  Chicago  Band  Association,  William  Weil,  con- 
ductor, organized  and  supported  by  public  men  and 
women  to  maintain  a  fine  band  and  provide  free  concerts 
in  localities  where  music  is  unquestionably  a  pov^^er  for 

229 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

good,  has  for  ten  years  spent  busy  summers  in  doing  most 
excellent  work  providing  music  for  the  people.  Called 
Chicago's  "  War  Band,"  it  did  valiant  work  in  aiding  the 
raising  of  war  funds.  Besides  appearing  at  many  nota- 
ble public  functions  of  state,  it  has  furnished  music  at 
the  Municipal  Pier  and  in  the  parks. 

There  are  numerous  and  enterprising  societies  organ- 
ized for  the  betterment  of  music  and  musicians.  Admir- 
able work  in  advancing  and  exploiting  American  art  has 
been  accomplished  by  the  Society  of  American  Musicians, 
which  has  given  weekly  concerts  for  a  nominal  fee  in 
Fullerton  Hall  in  the  Art  Institute.  Many  opportunities 
for  local  artists  have  been  offered  under  these  auspices. 
The  Guild  of  Violinists  have  their  ovv^n  publication  and 
organization,  while  the  organists  and  choir  masters 
assemble  weekly  at  the  Baton  Club  where  they  discuss 
plans  for  the  betterment  of  their  work. 

One  of  the  great  factors  of  mu^slc  of  the  Midwest  has 
been  the  Amateur  Musical  Club  of  Chicago  —  an  asso- 
ciation of  women  formed  for  the  purpose  of  developing 
the  musical  talent  of  its  members  and  stimulating  musical 
interest  in  Chicago.  In  its  career  it  has  given  four  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  concerts  by  its  members  and  one 
hundred  and  sixty  concerts  by  famous  artists.  Up  to 
within  a  few  years  ago  its  activities  were  confined  to  the 
round  of  its  members  and  their  friends,  its  only  public 
function  being  a  concert  each  year  to  raise  funds  for 
scholarships  for  the  encouragement  of  native  talent.  Ten 
years  ago  the  scope  of  its  activities  commenced  to  widen 
in  extension  work.  Its  members  gave  concerts  in  vari- 
ous institutions,  such  as  the  Home  for  the  Aged,  the 

230 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Chicago  Home  for  Girls,  Olivet  Institute,  the  Chicago 
Hebrew  Institute,  the  Home  for  the  Blind,  the  Presby- 
terian Hospital  and  other  institutions.  Then  its  philan- 
thropies extended  to  the  Chicago  Commons,  and  it  is 
quietly  and  effectively  interested  in  many  musical  me- 
diums throughout  the  city^ —  from  the  Great  Lakes  Train- 
ing Camp  to  the  free  concerts  at  the  Municipal  Pier.  In 
19 1 5  the  club  changed  its  title  to  The  Musicians'  Club 
of  Women.  Fully  two-thirds  of  its  six  hundred  and 
twenty-five  members  are  really  musical  artists  and  not 
amateurs.  Their  influence  for  good  music  in  Chicago  is 
inestimable. 

Another  organization  that  must  be  mentioned  is  the 
Lake  View  Musical  Club,  which  for  years  has  been  not 
only  active  in  well  doing  for  its  own  members  but  also  in 
a  philanthropic  way  in  providing  scholarships  for  worthy 
young  musicians. 

A  new  enterprise  with  a  charter  membership  of  five 
hundred  is  the  Chicago  Foundation  for  Musical  Educa- 
tion, which  proposes  to  take  up  the  education  of  poor* 
but  worthy  students  who  meet  the  conditions  of  its  ex- 
aminations. 

In  191 5,  Glenn  Dillard  Gunn,  critic  and  musician, 
organized  an  orchestra  of  fifty  instrumentalists,  giving 
much  time  and  enthusiasm  to  the  project,  which  aimed 
at  music  for  the  people.  The  first  season  he  gave  twelve 
concerts  and  made  good,  despite  croakings  of  pessimists 
and  the  natural  opposition  to  Sunday  concerts.  The  sec- 
ond year  the  Gunn  Orchestra  gave  twenty  programs,  fif- 
teen being  given  in  the  Studebaker  Theater  and  the 
remainder  in  the  high  schools.    The  third  season  the  num- 

231 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

ber  had  been  considerably  increased  and  the  popularity 
of  the  organization  had  been  attested  by  large  attend- 
ances. No  fewer  than  forty-seven  American  composers 
have  been  presented  by  it  in  Chicago  for  the  first  time, 
and  thirty-three  American  artists  have  been  introduced 
to  this  public. 

The  Philharmonic  Orchestra  of  Chicago,  organized 
and  directed  by  Arthur  Dunham,  with  the  idea  of  fur- 
nishing programs  of  good,  high-class  music  and  the 
lighter  classics,  came  into  existence  in  191 7  and  estab- 
lished itself  excellently.  In  this  enterprise  Director  Dun- 
ham secured  the  cooperation  of  fifty  public-spirited  cit- 
izens acquainted  with  his  ability,  who  guaranteed  the 
enterprise.  He  then  engaged  fifty-one  members  of  the 
Music  Federation  and  his  Sunday  concerts  in  the  Illi- 
nois and  Blackstone  theaters  were  a  success  from  the 
start.  The  programs  were  admirably  balanced  for  the 
taste  of  the  music-loving  public,  and  symphonies  or  parts 
of  symphonies  were  given  at  every  other  concert, 
•  Ravinia  Park  in  1908  evolved  ^s  an  ambitious  musical 
and  architectural  dream  in  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
places  on 'the  north  shore.  For  several  seasons  it  lan- 
guished and  meant  little  or  nothing  to  music-lovers.  In 
1912  Ravinia  passed  from  the  doubtful  estate  of  a  rail- 
way side-enterprise  to  become  something  unique  and  vital 
with  a  big  art  incentive.  Its  possibilities  so  impressed  a 
traveling  writer  that  he  said,  "  Ravinia  Park  is  the  most 
interesting  and  harmonious,  attractive,  architectural  al 
fresco  musical  enterprise  in  the  world."  Under  the  new 
regime^  in  addition  to  enlisting  notable  operatic  and  vocal 
talent  of  metropolitan  merit,  it  has  an  orchestra  of  fifty 

232 


Chicago.     Garfield  Park  Conservatory,  the  largest  in  America, 
covering  sixty-eight  thousand  square   feet. 


Chicago.    Garfield  Park    on  the  "  forty-mile  "  park  and  boulevard 

circuit. 


OF  THE      ^ 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

pieces  made  up  of  instrumentalists  from  the  Chicago 
Symphony  Orchestra,  and  its  operatic  and  concert  pro- 
grams from  season  to  season  have  grown  more  impres- 
sive and  ambitious,  so  that  it  has  become  a  habit  with 
music-lovers  and  pays  its  way. 

John  Philip  Sousa,  the  "  March  King,"  in  1892  organ- 
ized in  Chicago  the  band  that  bore  his  name  so  many 
years.  This  was  five  years  before  he  wrote  his  master- 
piece, Stars  and  Stripes  Forever,  that  has  been  marching 
around  the  world  ever  since.  Lieutenant  Sousa  is  not 
only  one  of  the  most  distinctive  figures  in  music,  but  his 
versatility  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  he  writes  both  the 
words  and  the  music  for  his  operas.  He  was  the  leader 
of  the  Marine  Band  at  the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Training 
Station,  which  numbered  eighteen  hundred  instrumen- 
talists—  undoubtedly  the  largest  organized  band  in  the 
world.  It  reflects  credit  upon  its  director,  Chicago,  and 
the  Middle  West. 

Undoubtedly  the  largest  factor  in  Chicago's  musical 
progression  is  the  Chicago  Symphony  Orchestra,  which 
was  organized  in  Chicago  by  a  number  of  men  inter- 
ested in  promoting  the  highest  class  of  instrumental 
music.  The  Orchestral  Association  was  incorporated 
December  16,  1890,  and  Theodore  Thomas,  famous  for 
many  years  as  a  conductor,  was  engaged  to  lead  the  new 
organization,  which  was  then  named  the  Chicago  Orches- 
tra. The  preparations  were  completed  in  1891  and  the 
first  public  rehearsal  was  given  at  the  Auditorium  Friday 
afternoon,  Octpber  16,  of  that  year.  Out  of  the  need 
for  music  at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  grew 
the  organization  of  this  orchestra,  which  gave  its  con- 

233 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

certs  in  the  Auditorium  until  the  erection  of  Orchestra 
Hall.  The  first  concert  there  was  given  Wednesday  eve- 
ning, December  14,  1904.  Theodore  Thomas  died  Janu- 
ary 4,  1905,  and  the  orchestra,  which  until  then  had  been 
called  the  Chicago  Orchestra,  was  named  the  Theodore 
Thomas  Orchestra.  Frederick  Stock,  after  the  death  of 
Mr.  Thomas,  was  made  conductor.  On  February  24, 
191 3,  the  title  was  changed  to  the  Chicago  Symphony 
Orchestra  (founded  by  Theodore  Thomas).  The  or- 
chestra enlists  seventy-five  players  of  the  very  first 
rank,  a  number  of  whom  have  been  with  the  orchestra 
since  its  beginning.  Its  home  is  in  Orchestra  Hall,  which 
has  been  recognized  as  one  of  the  greatest  concert  centers 
in  this  country.  In  1902  the  directors  of  the  organiza- 
tion raised,  by  popular  subscription,  a  building  fund  of 
$600,000  which  was  invested  in  Orchestra  Hall.  Since 
then  $300,000  has  been  paid  off  and  less  than  half  of 
this  amount  will  clear  away  all  incumbrances.  The  sub- 
sidy by  rental  and  leaseholds  of  the  building  take  care 
of  orchestral  expense  and  fixed  charges. 

The  Chicago  Symphony  Orchestra  gives  twenty-eight 
evening  and  twenty-eight  afternoon  performances  during 
its  regular  season.  Its  latest  artistic  venture  is  the  "  pop  " 
concerts  on  Thursdays,  which  are  without  question  the 
world's  greatest  bargain  in  music.  This  organization  is 
one  of  the  few  musical  bodies  that  have  a  waiting  list, 
so  great  is  the  demand  for  the  season  seats  on  Friday 
afternoon.  The  organization  makes  extensive  spring 
.tours  and  has  been  highly  commended  in  most  cultivated 
communities  as  an  orchestral  body  second  to  none. 

Through   the  beneficence  of   friends,   the   Symphony 

234 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Orchestra  now  has  a  pension  fund  for  the  players  who 
have  been  connected  with  the  body  for  twenty  years  that 
is  sustained  without  cost  to  the  players  themselves.  This 
pension  fund  is  unique  among  orchestral  organizations. 

Grand  opera  has  been  the  sine  qua  iion  of  European 
art  centers  for  a  century.  Eveiy  municipality  in  Italy, 
France,  or  Germany,  if  it  expects  an}^  rank  in  the  rating 
as  a  city,  must  not  only  have  an  opera  house  but  an  opera. 
If  the  government  does  not  subvene  these  institutions, 
the  municipality  does,  for  the  operatic  is  the  highest  of 
allied  arts  and  is  encouraged  as  a  habit  for  the  delecta- 
tion of  the  people.  In  the  United  States  grand  opera  has 
always  been  a  private  enterprise  and  if  it  is  not  self- 
supporting,  it  is  dependent  upon  guarantors  of  public 
spirit  to  make  good  the  deficit. 

New  Orleans  antedated  New  York  with  grand  opera 
as  a  permanent  institution,  and  San  Francisco  on  the  far 
coast  of  California  outdid  both  in  the  matter  of  prolific 
production.  In  the  palmy  days  of  the  Tivoli  it  not  only 
ransacked  the  standard  repertoire  but  picked  up  novelties 
with  a  daring  that  allowed  few  to  escape.  New  York, 
however,  must  be  awarded  the  palm  for  long  doing  grand 
opera  in  a  truly  grand  way.  Its  casts  and  productions 
have  outrivaled  such  famous  European  institutions  as  the 
architecturally  unsurpassed  Grand  Opera  of  Paris;  the 
magnificent  Royal  Opera  of  Vienna ;  the  Royal  Opera  of 
Petrograd  (the  home  of  the  ballet)  ;  and  those  noble  old 
edifices,  La  Scala  of  Milan  and  San  Carlos  of  Naples; 
not  forgetting  the  beautiful  Colon  Theater  of  Buenos 
Aires  or  the  superb  Nazionale  of  Mexico. 

With  the  single  exception  of  Buenos  Aires  (Brazil), 

235 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

America  pays  more  for  music  than  other  countries,  ana 
the  grand  opera  casts  here  are  unmatched  elsewhere  in 
the  world.  Boston  and  Philadelphia  have  fine  opera 
houses  but  the  lives  of  their  organizations  have  been  brief 
and  intermittent.  Chicago  for  years  was  dependent  upon 
the  East  or  South  for  grand  opera  visitation.  The  first 
opera  heard  in  Chicago  was  in  Rice's  Theater  January 
27,  1850,  when  La  Sonnambiila  was  presented  with  Elice 
Briente  as  star.  After  that  opera  came  from  season  to 
season  but  seldom  with  distinction,  until  Her  Majesty's 
Opera  gave  the  temperamental  twist  to  the  intelligent 
and  impressive  art  that  had  been  previously  invested  in 
Caroline  Richings  Bernard,  Anna  Louise  Cary,  or  Clara 
Louise  Kellogg.  Chicago's  first  ambitious  venture  in  a 
home  for  music  was  Crosby's  Opera  House  and  it  had 
a  dignified  successor  in  Central  Music  Hall. 

When  the  old  Exposition  Building  was  transformed 
to  accommodate  the  Chicago  Opera  Festival  in  1884,  its 
success  aroused  a  new  interest  in  opera  and  a  determina- 
tion to  provide  the  city  with  its  abiding  place  and  the 
Auditorium  was  erected.  It  is  a  vast  and  unusual  struc- 
ture, embracing  a  dual  design  —  artistic  and  commercial. 
It  has  seatings  for  forty-two  hundred  persons,  larger  than 
any  similar  house  of  entertainment,  is  strictly  fire-proof, 
has  the  first  hydraulic  stage  erected  in  this  country  and 
several  other  architectural  novelties.  Despite  its  spa- 
ciousness, the  acoustics  of  the  Auditorium  are  as  perfect 
as  its  lines  of  sight.  It  was  opened  by  the  Maurice  Grau 
Company,  December  10,  1889,  with  Adelina  Patti  as 
Julietta.  The  engagement  continued  for  four  weeks. 
Every  year  thereafter  there  was  opera,  the  engagements 

236 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

varying  from  two  to  three  weeks,  but  after  fifteen  years 
they  grew  less  frequent  and  diminished  in  length.  Dur- 
ing this  time  some  notable  records  were  established.  One 
famous  week  of  the  Conried  Opera  reached  $78,000  for 
eight  performances  (the  highest  prices  for  seats  then 
being  $3.50).  The  Auditorium  served  useful  and  varied 
purposes,  accommodating  everything  from  grand  charity 
balls  to  democratic  vaudeville,  from  Republican  national 
conventions  to  melodrama  and  spectacle.  President  Ben- 
jamin Harrison  was  nominated  in  this  house  before  it 
was  completed.  In  1903  it  eclipsed  all  previous  records 
with  a  six  months'  run  of  the  spectacle,  America,  that 
drew  one  million  people  and  over  a  million  dollars. 

In  all  these  busy  years  it  had  never  attained  its  mani- 
fest destiny  in  becoming  the  home  of  grand  opera  that 
should  be  truly  its  own. 

In  1910,  John  C.  Shaffer,  Harold  F.  McCormick, 
Charles  G.  Dawes,  John  J.  Mitchell,  La  Verne  W.  Noyes, 
Julius  Rosenwald,  Charles  L.  Hutchinson,  R.  T.  Crane, 
Jr.,  George  F.  Porter,  and  Max  Pam  took  up  the  lease 
of  the  Auditorium  and  organized  the  Chicago-Philadel- 
phia Opera  Company.  In  this  enterprise  they  pooled 
issue  w^ith  the  directorate  of  the  Metropolitan  Opera  of 
New  York  —  Otto  II.  Kahn,  Philip  M.  Lydig,  Clarence 
H.  Mackay,  George  J.  Gould,  and  Harry  Payne  Whitney. 
Andreas  Dippel,  then  associate  manager  of  the  Metro- 
politan, was  chosen  director  of  the  new  company  and 
Cleofonte  Campanini,  musical  director.  A  large  portion 
of  the  million  dollars  they  raised  went  to  buy  scenery, 
properties,  and  costumes,  exclusive  production  rights  of 
modern  French  operas  and  valuable  artist  contracts  from 

237 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Oscar  Hammerstein,  who,  in  shrewd  association  with 
Maestro  Campanini,  had  made  the  Manhattan  such  op- 
position to  the  MetropoHtan  that  its  ehmination  was  a 
matter  of  business  expediency.  The  new  organization 
opened  its  season  at  the  Auditorium  November  3,  1910, 
with  Aida.  The  alHance  with  the  MetropoHtan  included 
an  exchange  of  artists  and  the  guests  of  the  first  season 
were  many  of  the  greatest  stars  —  among  them:  Geral- 
dine  Farrar,  Maurice  Renaud,  John  McCormack,  Mme. 
Melba,  Antonio  Scotti,  Frances  Alda,  Lydia  Lipkowska, 
Florenzio  Constantino,  Johanna  Gadski,  and  Enrico  Ca- 
ruso. In  all  there  were  sixty-four  performances,  and 
twenty-eight  different  operas  were  given. 

The  Campanini  concerts  were  inaugurated  the  first 
Sunday  of  19 10  and  have  been  a  feature  in  one  form  or 
another  ever  since.  Under  the  magic  of  the  Campanini 
baton  this  great  organization  of  instrumentalists,  one  of 
the  finest  accompanying  bodies,  showed  its  capability  in 
oratorio  anTl  high  class  concert  programs.  Following 
the  Chicago  season  the  company  gave  the  same  repertoire 
in  Philadelphia,  also  presenting  French  operas  every 
Tuesday  evening  at  the  ]\Ietropolitan  in  New  York  and 
visiting  Baltimore  on  Fridays. 

The  second  season  opened  with  Saint-Saens'  Saiiison 
et  Delilah,  November  22.  191 1.  The  notable  new  mem- 
bers included  Luisa  Tetrazzini.  Maggie  Teyte.  Mme. 
Gagliardi.  Helen  Stanley,  and  Minnie  Saltzman-Stevens. 
There  were  sixty-seven  performances  and  thirty-one  dif- 
ferent operas.  The  Philadelphia  and  eastern  season  was 
given  in  the  same  order  as  before. 

Puccini's  Manon  Lescaut  opened  the  third  season.  No- 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

vember  i6,  19 12.  The  new  artists  were  Titta  Ruffo, 
Giovanni  Zanatello,  Marie  Hay,  and  Lillian  Nordica. 
The  Chicago-Philadelphia  Company  this  season  made 
their  first  transcontinental  tour  visiting  the  Pacific  Coast. 
A  Philadelphia  newspaper  estimated  the  railway  fares 
for  two  hundred  and  sixty  people  from  coast  to  coast 
would  cost  over  sixty  thousand  dollars. 

The  fourth  season  was  epochal  as  the  Chicago-Phila- 
delphia Opera  Company  became  completely  localized. 
Harold  F.  McCormick  purchased  the  stock  of  the  eastern 
directorate,  Andreas  Dippel  resigned  and  Cleofonte  Cam- 
panini  was  made  general  director  of  the  Chicago  Opera 
Association.  The  new  artists  added  to  the  company  were 
Lucien  Muratore,  the  greatest  French  tenor ;  Vanni  Mar- 
coux,  baritone;  Frieda  Hempel;  Nellie  Melba,  and  Olive 
Fremstadt.  The  season  opened  November  24,  19 13,  with 
Tosca,  Mary  Garden  in  the  title  role.  The  organization 
made  its  second  transcontinental  tour  to  the  coast  this 
season. 

There  was  an  interregnum  of  grand  opera  in  Chicago 
in  1914  but  General  Director  Campanini  was  fortunate 
in  holding  virtually  all  of  the  artists  engaged  for  that 
season  and  added  to  the  number  for  the  fifth  season  of 
grand  opera,  that  opened  Monday,  November  15,  191 5, 
with  Ponchielli's  La  Gioconda.  The  artists  included 
Geraldine  Farrar,  Emmy  Destinn,  Olive  Fremstadt,  Er- 
nestine Schumann-Heink,  John  McCormack,  Supervia 
Conchita,  Louise  Edvina,  Alfred  Maguenat,  Francis  Mc- 
Clellan,  Marcia  Van  Dresser,  and  Maria  Kousnezoff. 
There  were  seventy-three  performances  given  and  thirty- 
seven  operas  presented  during  the  ten  weeks'  season. 

239 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Prior  to  opening  the  succeeding  season,  the  indefati- 
gable director,  Cleofonte  Cainpanini,  conducted  a  three 
weeks'  tour  through  the  Middle  West  under  the  direction 
of  Charles  Ellis  of  Boston,  with  Geraldine  Farrar,  Louise 
Homer,  and  Lucien  Muratore.  He  opened  his  sixth 
season  at  the  Auditorium,  November  13,  19 16,  with 
Verdi's  Aida. 

The  great  artistic  sensation  of  this  season  came  with 
the  first  Saturday  matinee  when  Amelita  Galli-Curci,  a 
stranger  to  America,  made  her  debut  as  Gilda  in  Rigo- 
leito.  Her  triumph  was  instant  and  complete,  recalling 
the  palmy  days  of  Adelina  Patti.  Her  subsetiuent  ap- 
pearance as  Lucia  and  as  Violetta  confirmed  her  in  esteem 
and  when  she  appeared  with  Lucien  Muratore  in  Ronico 
and  Jidiette,  the  compliment  to  Campanini's  artistic 
astuteness  was  undeniable.  The  latter-day  sensation  was 
the  appearance  of  Lucien  Muratore  in  Pagliacci,  one  of 
the  greatest  performances  ever  witnessed. on  the  historic 
stage  of  the  Auditorium. 

The  seventh  season  of  the  Chicago  Opera  Association 
was  preceded  by  a  three  weeks'  tour  through  the  Middle 
West  with  Amelita  Galli-Curci,  Mme.  Melba,  Lucien 
Muratore,  and  Georges  Baklanoff.  It  was  the  most  won- 
derfully successful  tour  in  the  matter  of  financial  returns 
ever  projected.  The  regular  season  opened  at  the  Audi- 
torium Monday,  November  12,  191 7,  with  the  first  rep- 
resentation in  America  of  Mascagni's  Isahcau  with  Rosa 
Raisa,  the  greatest  dramatic  soprano  of  the  time. 

During  the  seven  seasons  of  grand  opera,  Chicago's 
own  company  at  the  Auditorium  have  given  five  hundred 
and   one   performances,    presenting   thirty-six   novelties 

240 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

under  the  Campanini  regime.  This  indicates  the  remark- 
able activities  of  music-lovers.  The  record  of  the  Audi- 
torium for  the  first  nineteen  years  of  its  existence  was 
two  hundred  and  seventy-eight  operatic  performances ; 
(seventy-nine  different  operas)  ;  eighteen  operas,  and  one 
oratorio  had  their  first  hearing  on  this  stage. 

The  original  million-dollar  investment  since  the  first 
season  has  been  paid  in  several  times.  Close  calculation 
as  to  the  cost  of  an  opera  representation  estimates  it  aver- 
ages seven  thousand  dollars,  and  one  thousand  dollars 
additional  on  tour.  The  visible  assets  of  the  Opera  Asso- 
ciation have  doubled  since  the  Hammerstein  purchase. 

Thanks  to  the  unfailing  generosity  of  Harold  F.  Mc- 
Cormick  and  guarantors,  Chicago  has  enjoyed  remark- 
able opera,  superbly  staged. 

The  191 7  sensational  success  of  the  Chicago  Opera 
Association  in  New  York  and  Boston  showed  critical 
commendation  and  public  appreciation  up  to  the  par 
point.  In  the  March  issue  of  the  North  American  Re- 
view, Lawrence  Oilman  had  it: 

Sirs  and  Madams  of  Chicago,  we  of  New  York  salute 
you.     You  have  immeasurably  enriched  the  winter  of 

our  operatic  discontent We  have  all  been 

happy  and  delightfully  applausive,  and  perhaps  made 
glad  the  heart  of  Mr.  Campanini  and  his  indulgent  asso- 
ciates to  an  extent  sufficient  to  persuade  them  to  come 
East  and  comfort  us  in  our  provincialism,  reminding  us 
that  New  York,  after  all,  is  not  the  musical  center  of 
America. 

The  Board  of  Education  maintains  a  department 
known  as  the  Department  of  Music  for  elementary  and 

241 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

high  schools.  This  department  is  in  charge  of  a  super- 
visor, Mrs.  Agnes  C.  Heath.  She  has  working  under 
her  ten  assistant  teachers,  one  assigned  to  each  of  the 
ten  sub-districts  of  the  city.  They  demonstrate  teaching 
and  also  supervise  the  teaching  of  others.  There  is  like- 
wise maintained  at  the  normal  school  a  Department  of 
Music,  with  a  department  head  for  the  training  of  ele- 
mentary teachers  in  the  teaching  of  music  in  the  schools. 

For  many  years  Chicago  has  maintained  a  unique  fea- 
ture in  district  assembly  singing.  Once  each  year  —  in 
the  springtime — the  children  are  gathered  at  various 
centers  where  they  give  a  purely  musical  program  of  vocal 
and  instrumental  music.  These  meetings  are  very  popu- 
lar with  the  teachers  and  the  children. 

Great  stress  is  put  upon  the  learning  of  folk  songs, 
national,  and  patriotic,  although  the  technique  of  music 
is  not  neglected.  The  actual  teaching  of  music  to  the 
children  is  left  largely  to  the  room  teacher,  but  it  is  an 
important  part  of  the  recreational  life  of  the  school. 
Most  of  the  schools  in  Chicago  are  opened  in  the  morn- 
ing by  the  singing  of  some  favorite  song.  How  could 
any  city  do  more  in  the  way  of  emphasizing  and  encour- 
aging the  love  for  music  than  Chicago  does  ? 

The  Board  of  Education  likewise  maintains  in  the 
superintendent's  office  a  Department  of  Art  for  the  ele- 
mentary schools  with  Miss  Lucy  S.  Silke  in  charge.  This 
department  is  organized  similarly  to  the  Department  of 
Music,  having  ten  departmental  teachers  who  teach 
demonstratively  and  supervise  the  teaching  of  art  by  ele- 
mentary school  teachers.  There  is  also  maintained  in 
the  normal  school  a  Department  of  Art,  under  a  depart- 

242 


Chicago.   Humboldt  Park.   This  equestrian  monument  of  Kosciuszko 

is  never  without  its  wreath  of  flowers. 


Chicago.    Garfield  Park  Conservatory.    Its  superheated  department 

is  ahve  with  highly  colored  tropical  plants.    Here  is  to  be 

found  the  rarest  orchid  collection  in  America. 


IXRARt 
OF  THE 


.INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

ment  head,  who  is  responsible  for  the  training  of  ele- 
mentary teachers  in  the  matter  of  the  teaching  of  art. 

Art  in  Chicago  includes  graphic  representation  and 
design.  A  gradual  change  is  noticed  in  the  emphasis 
placed  upon  these  branches  of  art  in  recent  years.  Not 
so  long  ago  the  emphasis  was  placed  upon  graphic  rep- 
resentation, but  gradually  it  is  being  shifted  to  design  in 
ornamentation  and  form.  This  brings  art  in  close  con- 
nection with  construction,  into  which  it  is  gradually  being 
merged.  It  is  not  meant  by  this  that  graphic  representa- 
tion or  pictorial  art  will  be  entirely  superseded  by  other 
forms,  but  that  construction  and  design  will  absorb  more 
and  more  attention. 

The  Department  of  Art  in  the  elementary  schools  gives 
frequent  exhibition  of  the  handiwork  of  the  children, 
usually  at  the  Art  Institute.  A  19 18  exhibition  was  one 
of  "War  Posters,"  showing  the  ready  adaptation  of  art 
to  the  immediate  demands  of  the  time.  These  posters 
were  designed  by  the  children  for  the  purpose  of  arousing 
interest  in  war  activities. 

A  feature  of  the  art  work  in  Chicago  is  the  visitation 
and  study  of  works  of  art  by  children  of  the  upper 
grades.  The  seventh  and  eighth  grade  pupils  especially 
are  encouraged  to  visit  these  places  under  the  guidance 
of  their  teachers,  and  great  interest  and  enthusiasm  are 
aroused  in  this  way  in  the  various  lines  of  art.  It  may 
be  said  that  every  child  enrolled  in  the  schools  of  Chi- 
cago (144,422  boys,  140,482  girls,  or  a  total  of  284,  904 
in  the  elementary  grades;  14,461  boys,  16,672  girls,  or  a 
total  of  31,133  in  the  high  schools)  comes  in  contact  with 
a  potent  art  stimulus  both  in  music  and  in  art  proper. 

243 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

These  departments  in  Chicago  pubHc  schools  are  con- 
ducted by  competent  and  gifted  department  heads.  They 
have  brought  the  condition  of  the  schools  of  Chicago  with 
reference  to  the  teaching  of  art  and  music  to  a  high 
standard.  Undoubtedly  Chicago  in  these  respects  com- 
pares very  favorably  with  any  other  city. 

Art,  next  to  music,  is  the  most  educational  influence 
in  the  training  and  refining  of  the  moral  or  intellectual 
faculties  of  a  person  or  a  community.  Some  perhaps 
would  place  art  first,  but  it  is  a  sordid,  misshapen  soul 
that  does  not  appreciate  music  in  some  form  or  other. 
Many  people  there  are,  however,  who  have  literally  no 
conception  of  either  the  beauty  or  the  value  of  art. 

A  finer  quality  of  mind  is  essential  to  a  real  apprecia- 
tion of  art  than  is  necessary  for  a  fondness  or  talent  for 
music.  Art  and  art  subjects  are  not  so  numerous  or 
obtainable  as  music,  and  while  both  stir  the  soul  and 
improve  the  mind,  music  must  forever  have  first  place 
as  a  universal  impetus  to  refinement. 

Literature  should  doubtless  take  precedence  over  the 
others,  for  it  affords  the  first  training  of  every  person 
with  only  a  rudimentary  education,  but  literature  has  its 
dangers.  It  cannot  be  or  is  not  controlled  to  the  same 
extent  as  are  art  and  music.  The  natural  inclination  of 
a  shallow-minded  person  is  for  light,  or  even  what  might 
be  termed  "  bad  "  writing.  The  same  person  would  as 
readily  turn  to  vitiated  music  and  art,  especially,  if  the 
same  abundant  degree  of  opportunity  were  at  hand  for 
the  gratification  of  his  superficial  nature. 

The  worst  music  in  the  world  is  a  moral  boon  to  hu- 
manity, while  far  from  the  worst  literature  may  be  a 

244 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

curse.  An  abundance  of  the  triune  —  good  music,  good 
art,  and  good  literature  —  applied,  make  the  whole  range 
of  cultural  achievement. 

In  each  of  these  Chicago  has  an  enviable  place.  Since 
the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  the  greatest  archi- 
tectural triumph  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Chicago  has 
enjoyed  the  reputation  of  being  the  premier  constructive 
art  center  of  America.  As  for  fine  art,  the  most  unique 
and  far-reaching  art  influence  in  this  country  is  the  large 
school  of  the  Art  Institute. 

The  municipality,  too,  has  made  a  forward  step  in  the 
same  direction,  in  the  annual  appropriation  of  five  thou- 
sand dollars  exclusiyely  for  the  purchase  of  paintings  by 
Chicago  artists  for  the  decoration  of  public  buildings. 
The  commission  having  this  in  charge  was  appointed  by 
the  City  Council.  Its  creation  for  this  purpose  is  one 
of  the  finest  things  the  City  Council  ever  did.  It  encour- 
ages Chicago  artists  to  stay  in  Chicago ;  it  helps  to  develop 
artistic  taste  in  a  broad  way;  its  continued  maintenance 
will  eventually  lead  to  the  idea  being  copied  in  other 
American  cities;  its  collections  of  paintings,  sculpture, 
and  art  objects  thus  far,  though  small,  rank  with  the 
best;  and  they  have  been  put  where  school  children  and 
holiday  makers  can  enjoy  them. 

This  plan  was  originally  a  French  idea.  The  French 
government  purchased  the  works  of  French  artists  for 
the  Luxembourg.  The  city  of  Paris  makes  similar  pur- 
chases for  the  Petit  Palais.  In  America,  only  Chicago 
does  anything  of  this  kind. 

The  Art  Institute  of  Chicago  is  one  of  the  three  most 
important  art  museums  in  the  United  States,     It  differs 

245 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

from  the  others  and  indeed  from  most  of  the  art  muse- 
ums of  the  world  in  the  fact  that,  in  addition  to  an  im- 
portant group  of  permanent  collections,  it  presents  its 
public  with  a  constant  picture  of  the  current  movements 
in  art  through  a  great  number  and  variety  of  changing 
exhibitions.  There  were  seventy  of  these  held  during 
1917. 

The  Institute  is  remarkable  among  museums  for  the 
breadth  of  its  civic  policy,  for  the  emphasis  which  it  has 
placed  upon  the  development  and  usefulness  of  its  library, 
including  the  Ryerson  Library  of  art  books;  and  it  has 
the  reputation  of  being  the  most  hospitable  of  art  mu- 
seums. 

Doubtless  much  of  the  vitality  of  the  Art  Institute  is 
due  to  the  presence  within  its  walls  of  the  School  of  Art, 
which  is  one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  largest,  in  the 
world.  This  great  institution  furnishes  a  constant  proof 
of  the  importance  of  art  in  modern  life  through  its  large 
attendance,  which  for  several  years  has  averaged  an  even 
million  and  represents  all  the  walks  of  life,  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  people  being  foreign  born  and  having  brought 
with  them  their  native  love  of  art.  To  some  extent  the 
accessibility  of  the  Art  Institute  has  given  it  its  present 
character.  This,  no  doubt,  is  largely  responsible  for  the 
heavy  attendance  and  directly  has  had  something  to  do 
with  the  policies  which  have  made  it  what  it  is. 

The  exhibition,  early  in  1918,  of  work  of  former  stu- 
dents of  the  Art  Institute,  was  a  revelation  even  to  those 
who  had  planned  it,  and  received  extraordinary  praise 
from  visitors  who  made  exhibitions  of  the  year  in  other 
cities  a  basis  of  comparison. 

246 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Among  those  who  have  studied  in  the  Art  Institute 
are  some  of  the  notable  figures  in  modern  art,  including 
men  and  women  of  international  reputation.  In  addition 
to  these  the  school  has  produced  designers  and  workers  in 
the  arts  oidinarily  called  commercial,  but  which  touch 
life  at  so  many  points  that  their  importance  is  hardly 
second  to  the  fine  arts.  The  exhibition  of  work  by  for- 
mer students  of  the  school  was  a  unique  departure  among 
museums,  simply  because  there  is  no  other  institution 
in  this  country  which  could  possibly  have  made  an  exhi- 
bition of  this  kind. 

Charles  L.  Hutchinson,  many-sided  civic  benefactor, 
has  been  president  of  the  Art  Institute  for  thirty-six 
years,  and  the  coalescence  of  all  the  ideas  and  ideals  of 
the  Art  Institute  has  been  possible  because  of  his  personal 
devotion.  Mr.  Hutchinson  practically  every  day  of  the 
year  spends  a  portion  of  his  time  at  the  Institute,  giving 
his  thought  to  its  larger  problems,  and  the  benefit  of  his 
advice  to  those  who  have  its  immediate  administration  in 
charge. 

.  Among  the  best  friends  of  the  Art  Institute  is  Martin 
A.  Ryerson,  who  built  the  Ryerson  Library,  and  whose 
loans  of  old  and  modern  works  of  art  give  great  distinc- 
tion to  its  collections  and  place  the  Art  Institute  high 
among  museums.  Mr,  Ryerson's  various  gifts  to  the 
Institute  are  also  worthy  of  note. 

A  conspicuous  feature  of  the  institution  is  the  collec- 
tion of  paintings  by  George  Inness,  presented  in  191 1  by 
Edward  B.  Butler,  himself  a  painter  of  merit. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  G.  Logan,  the  donors  of  the 
Logan  Prize  Fund,  have  added  immeasurably  to  the  im- 

247 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

portance  of  the  Art  Institute  from  the  standpoint  of 
artists  whose  work  finds  its  way  into  the  exhibitions  of 
the  larger  cities. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  O.  Goodman,  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Goodman  Purchase  Fund,  have  in  this  way 
performed  a  similar  service  to  American  art. 

Mr.  William  H.  Miner,  w^hose  gift  made  possible  the 
Frank  W.  Gunsaulus  Hall  of  Industrial  Art,  with  Dr. 
Gunsaulus,  has  been  a  great  instrument  in  bringing  about 
a  stronger  emphasis  upon  this  subject  of  art  in  the 
museum. 

The  Friends  of  American  Art,  an  organization  of 
Chicago  men  and  women,  was  organized  with  a  view 
to  building  up  the  collection  of  American  paintings  in 
the  museum.  Already  eighty-one  paintings,  six  works 
of  sculpture,  and  thirty-six  prints  have  been  added  to  the 
collection  of  the  Art  Institute  through  their  efforts. 

Many  Chicago  citizens,  both  men  and  women,  have 
been  particularly  generous  in  their  gifts  to  the  Art  Insti- 
tute. Among  these  are:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  B.  Black- 
stone,  the  donors  of  Blackstone  Hall;  Daniel  H.  Burn- 
ham,  the  Burnham  Library  Fund;  Wallace  L.  De  Wolf, 
the  Wallace  L.  De  Wolf  Gallery  and  the  collection 
of  etchings  by  Anders  Zorn;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bryan 
Lathrop,  collection  of  etchings  by  Whistler  and  the  Bryan 
Lathrop  Scholarship  Fund;  Joseph  Brooks  Fair,  the 
Joseph  Brooks  Fair  Fund ;  Albert  A.  Munger  and  Alex- 
ander A.  McKay,  Munger  Room  and  its  maintenance 
fund;  Dr.  Frank  W.  Gunsaulus,  collection  of  pottery  of 
the  Near  East  and  of  old  Wedgewood;  Sidney  A.  Kent, 
$50,000   fund;   Mr.    and   Mrs.    Samuel   M.    Nickerson, 

248 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Nickerson  Collection  of  Jades  and  maintenance  fund; 
Mrs.  Florence  L.  Page,  Henry  Field  collection  of  paint- 
ings; James  A.  Patten,  gift  of  $25,000;  Mrs.  Maria  A. 
Scammon,  lecture  fund  of  $35,000;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Albert 
A.  Sprague,  El  Greco  and  Van  Dyck  paintings;  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  A.  Stickney,  collections  and  maintenance  fund ; 
Catherine  M.  White,  fund  of  $165,000;  S.  A.  Sprague, 
$20,000  fund;  W.  Moses*  Willner,  fund  of  $50,000; 
William  H.  Miner,  gift  of  $50,000;  N.  W.  Harris,  prize 
fund  of  $14,000;  Ella  Peters  Cole,  scholarship  fund, 
$12,000;  La  Verne  W.  Noyes,  Ida  E.  S.  Noyes' Mem- 
orial Fund  of  $11,500. 

Two  bequests  were  left  to  the  Art  Institute  in  1918. 
That  of  Mr.  George  B.  Harris  bequeathed  a  fund  of 
$500,000,  of  which  the  income  only  was  to  be  used  for 
general  purposes.  This  very  generous  gift,  the  largest 
ever  given  to  the  Institute,  was  entirely  unexpected,  as 
Mr.  Harris,  although  a  life  member  and  a  frequent 
visitor,  had  taken  no  active  interest  in  museum  affairs. 
The  other  bequest  was  a  fund  of  about  $50,000  left  by 
Mrs.  George  N.  Culver. 

Although  these  men  and  women  have  made  the  Art 
Institute  in  its  present  form  a  possibility,  the  great 
significance  of  the  institution  is  largely  due  to  the  five 
thousand  friends  who  as  annual  members  make  yearly 
contribution  to  its  maintenance  and  usefulness.  The 
other  memberships  of  the  Art  Institute  are  governing 
members,  life  members,  governing  life  members,  and 
sustaining  members. 

The  art  school  has  about  seven  hundred  regular  day 
students,  four  hundred  evening  students  and  four  hun- 

249 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

dred  normal  and  juvenile  students.  The  total  enrollment 
is  about  three  thousand  a  year.  This  school  is  nearly  self- 
supporting,  earning  and  expending  about  $65,000  per 
annum.  The  most  advanced  branches  are  taught,  and  dis- 
tinguished teachers  from  a  distance  are  called  in  from 
time  to  time. 

A  reorganization  of  the  school  of  the  Art  Institute 
was  being  effected  in  1918,  the  end  in  view  being  a  more 
perfect  adjustment  to  the  demands  which  the  immediate 
future  is  to  make  on  the  trained  artist.  This  recognizes 
not  only  the  allegiance  which  the  school  owes  to  American 
industry  but  takes  full  cognizance  of  the  responsibility 
of  the  school  to  the  individual  whose  vocation  must  ren- 
der him  a  livelihood. 

Fullerton  Hall,  seating  475  people,  is  used  for  lecture 
purposes  by  a  variety  of  organizations.  The  Art  Insti- 
tute holds  here  about  250  lectures  a  year,  mostly  on  art. 
A  considerable  number  of  these  lectures  are  open  to  the 
public  without  charge. 

Eighty  thousand  persons  annually  make  use  of  the 
splendid  Ryerson  Library  which  contain  13,000  volumes 
on  fine  art  and  travel  housed  in  a  commodious  building. 
Fifteen  thousand  five  hundred  lantern  slides  and  33,000 
photographs  are  available  for  public  use. 

The  World's  Columbian  Exposition  did  many  wonder- 
ful things  for  Chicago.  Two  stand  boldly  out  against 
the  flight  of  time  and  will  continue  to  stand  out  far 
through  the  coming  years.  The  biggest  of  these  was  the 
establishment  of  Chicago  as  the  greatest  constructive  art 
center  in  the  world.  The  other  and  lasting  thing  it  did 
for  the  city  which  created  it  was  the  establishment  of  the 

250 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Field  Museum  of  Natural  History.  These  benefits  have 
been  a  great  boon  to  the  world's  fifth  city. 

The  Museum,  since  its  establishment  in  1894,  at  the 
close  of  the  exposition,  has  occupied  the  Fine  Arts 
Building  of  the  great  fair,  covering  nine  acres.  Soon  it 
is  to  have  a  magnificent  new  home  five  miles  cityward  at 
the  foot  of  Twelfth  Street  on  the  Lake  Front,  facing  up 
shore  from  the  edge  of  Grant  Park.  Here  it  will  be 
easily  accessible  from  all  parts  of  the  city. 

The  nucleus  of  the  exhibition  material  was  gathered 
by  gift  and  purchase  at  the  World's  Columbian  Expo- 
sition. Most  of  this  material,  however,  has  since  been  re- 
arranged, readapted,  or  discarded.  Old  departments  have 
gone,  new  ones  have  been  established,  until,  after  a  lapse 
of  twenty-four  years,  and  the  expenditure  of  $6,000,000, 
the  Museum  is  now  divided  into  five  departments  —  An- 
thropology, Botany,  Geology,  Zoology,  and  the  N.  W. 
Harris  Public  School  Extension. 

The  foundation  of  the  great  scientific  institution  in 
Chicago  was  due  to  the  generosity  of  Marshall  Field, 
whose  name  it  bears.  Mr.  Field's  first  gift  of  $1,000,000 
was  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  the  original  World's  Fair 
collection ;  to  this  he  added  at  his  death  the  munificent 
sum  of  $8,000,000  —  $4,000,000  for  the  erection  of  a 
permanent  building,  and  $4,000,000  for  maintenance. 
$800,000  has  been  donated  by  other  individuals. 

The  present  remarkable  collection  has  been  materially 
enhanced  by  many  expeditions  to  all  parts  of  the  world 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  exhibits,  exchange  material, 
and  data. 

The  wealth   of   the  Orient,   samples  'of   the  jeweled 

251 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

splendor  of  "  Aladdin's  Cave,"  wonders  of  the  depths  of 
the  earth  and  sea,  marvels  of  the  air,  crude  but  fascinat- 
ing workmanship  of  the  aborigines  and  other  savages 
from  all  over  the  world,  rich  handiwork  of  modern-day 
craftsmen,  crawling  and  prowling  things  of  the  earth, 
skeletons  of  dinosaurs  and  mastodons,  and  ancient  mum- 
mies make  up  a  collection  which  is  unsurpassed  in  some 
branches  and  comparable  in  others  to  the  Smithsonian 
Institute  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  the  British  Museum. 
Its  comprehensive  library  and  free  lectures  are  admirable 
adjuncts.  Every  department  of  Natural  History  has 
liberal  representation ;  likewise  the  archaeology  of  Amer- 
ica, with  fine  specimens  of  the  ancient  Cliff  Dwellers  with 
weapons,  pottery,  weavings,  and  ornaments  of  the  In- 
dians of  the  plains,  deserts,  and  mountains.  British 
Columbia  and  the  Esquimaux  are  well  represented,  also 
our  far-flung  island  possessions.  The  ethnology  of  Asia, 
Africa,  China,  and  Tibet,  together  with  their  fauna  and 
flora,  are  set  forth  in  natural  and  attractive  fashion. 

It  embraces  one  of  the  finest  collections  of  gems  in  the 
world,  containing  replicas  of  nearly  all  the  known  stones 
and  some  remarkable  specimens ;  a  wonderful  collection 
of  East  Indian  jewelry;  ores  of  the  precious  and  base 
metals  of  the  important  mining  regions  of  the  world; 
and  a  very  large  and  remarkable  collection  of  meteorites. 
The  origin  and  use  of  petroleum  is  demonstrated.  There 
is  a  model  of  the  moon  eighteen  feet  in  diameter;  fossils 
from  the  earliest  to  the  latest  successive  form  of  life  of 
the  world's  history ;  three  hundred  cases  of  plants ;  models 
of  the  structure  of  flowers  and  fruits ;  a  herbarium  of 
four  hundred  thT)usand  specimens;  a  library  of  seventy 

252 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

thousand  books  and  titles  for  scientific  reference  purposes 
—  this  is  what  one  may  see  on  a  visit  to  the  Field  Mu- 
seum. 

Free  lectures  have  been  given  in  Fullerton  Flail  of  the 
Art  Institute,  but  the  great  new  home  of  the  Museum, 
the  largest  white  marble  building  in  the  world,  when 
finished  will  contain  a  theater  accommodating  a  thousand 
people,  a  lecture  hall  with  two  hundred  seatings,  and  five 
class  rooms  for  eighty  each. 

The  new  building,  in  its  wondrous  setting  on  the  Lake 
Front,  is  a  monument  to  Greek  architecture.  It  will  be 
grandly  elaborate,  readily  accessible  to  the  public,  and 
well  adapted  for  scientific  study. 

The  Museum,  aside  from  the  Field  endowment,  has 
an  annual  income  of  $25,000.  Its  permanent  maintenance 
is  assured  by  an  Act  of  the  State  Legislature  providing 
for  the  levy  of  a  tax  which  it  is  estimated  will  eventually 
produce  $100,000  per  annum.  The  new  building,  when 
nearing  completion  in  Grant  Park  in  October,  19 18,  was 
ofifered  to  and  accepted  by  the  government  as  a  temporary 
general  hospital. 

The  Shakespearean  aphorism  —  "It  is  the  mind  that 
makes  the  body  rich"  —  if  echoing  a  far  cry  back  to 
Hellenic  culture,  still  holds  good  in  this  busy  and  most 
materially  progressive  age  the  world  has  ever  known. 
There  are  things  in  Chicago,  the  great  throbbing  heart  of 
the  Middle  West,  which  should  redound  to  the  credit  of 
the  city  not  only  as  an  educational  center,  but  as  a  radio 
of  activity  instilling  in  everyone  that  subtle  quality  known 
as  "taste." 

The  architectural   wonders   of   Chicago   impress   the 

253 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

most  superficial  observer.  It  was  a  Chicago  architect  (the 
late  Maj.  W.  L.  B.  Jenney)  who  originated  steel  con- 
struction which  made  modern  buildings  outlift  "  the  top- 
less towers  of  Troy."  If  these  outward  signs  tell  their 
own  story,  there  is  a  great  and  growing  movement  potent 
if  not  so  palpable,  favoring  the  advance  of  the  allied  arts 
of  music  and  literature. 

If  Chicago  is  the  great  central  market,  it  may  be 
claimed  with  equal  truth  as  the  largest  book  publication 
point  in  the  United  States. 

Chicago  publishes  820  newspapers  and  periodicals,  in- 
cluding a  large  number  of  exceedingly  important  trade 
publications.  As  yet  it  has  not  aspired  in  any  note- 
worthy degree  to  the  publishing  of  current,  popular,  or 
scientific  magazines  or  illustrated  papers,  but  as  a  city  of 
authors  of  merit,  it  leads  every  other  American  city. 

Its  writers  have  produced  everything  in  abundance 
from  fairy  tales,  drama,  and  fiction  to  history  and 
scientific  and  religious  works,  commercial  books  of 
standard  merit,  and  school  textbooks.  The  making  of 
books  is  the  business  of  New  York,  the  writing  of  books 
is  Chicago's  distinction.     Says  an  authority: 

Find  me  a  writer  who  is  indubitably  an  American, 
and  who  has  something  new  and  interesting  to  say,  and 
who  says  it  with  an  air,  and  nine  times  out  of  ten  I 
will  show  you  that  he  has  some  sort  of  connection  with 
the  abattoir  by  the  lake  —  that  he  was  bred  there,  or 
got  his  start  there,  or  passed  through  there  during  the 
days  when  he  was  tender. 

Henry  L.  Mencken,  the  literary  critic  and  editor,  has 
declared  that, 

254 


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Chicago.     In   the  new  Forest   Preserves ;   typical   scene  of  the 

beautiful  playground  country  outside  but  close  to  the  city 

limits.    Purchased  by  the  Board  of  Forest  Preserve 

Commissioners  of  Cook  County. 


Chicago.     New  Forest  Preserves ;  fifteen  thousand  acres  had  been 

purchased  up  to  1919;  ten  thousand  acres  additional 

marked  for  purchase. 


Vi^'V** 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

It  is  Chicago  and  not  New  York  that  launched  the  Chap 
Book  SaturnaHa  of  the  nineties  —  the  first  of  her  endless 
efforts  to  break  down  formalism  in  the  national  letters 

and  let  in  the  national  spirit It  was  Chicago, 

that  produced  the  Little  Rei'iew,  and  House  Beautiful  — 
the  first  and  best  little  theater  in  America  —  Maurice 
Browne's  playhouse. 

Relating  to  the  novelist,  this  authority  says : 

All  American  literary  movements  that  have  youth  in 
them  and  a  fresh  point  of  view  and  the  authentic  bounce 
and  verve  of  the  country,  and  the  true  character  and 
philosophy  of  its  people  —  all  these  come  out  of  Chicago. 

A  New  Yorker  said  that ;  much  more  he  said  in  featur- 
ing Chicago  as  the  best  and  most  prolific  field  of  fiction 
writers  of  real  merit.  Whether  this  viewpoint  be  ac- 
cepted or  not,  and  that  is  a  matter  for  the  critics  to  de- 
cide, the  position  of  Chicago  in  the  field  of  American 
literature  is  an  enviable  one.  This  is  true  of  all  branches 
of  literature.  Nothing  has  been  neglected.  The  arts, 
sciences,  and  business  have  been  covered  by  many  of  the 
nation's  most  distinguished  authorities. 

In  recent  years  more  than  550  authors  of  note  have 
come  to  the  front  in  Chicago.  These  have  covered  the 
amazing  number  of  112  specific  fields  of  literature,  re- 
search and  endeavor,  and  their  combined  efforts  have 
produced  more  than  4,000  titles  which  have  been  con- 
tributed to  the  shelves  of  American  book  lovers,  students, 
and  workers.  There  were  in  addition  scores  of  so- 
called  "  one-time  production "  authors  who  have  given 
valuably  of  the  richness  of  their  minds  to  the  world  of 
literature. 

255 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Chicago  also  possesses  an  unusually  large  number  of 
gifted  and  noted  special  writers  and  contributors  — 
eminent  editors,  critics,  dramatists,  and  short-story  writ- 
ers who  occupy  a  brilliant  place  in  Chicago's  galaxy  of 
litterateurs. 

The  field  invaded  by  Chicago's  writers  of  books  (in- 
cluding sixty-two  women  authors,  some  of  whom  are 
noted),  covers  history,  fiction,  physiology,  ethics, 
essays,  philosophy,  caricatures,  children's  stories,  English, 
mathematics,  political  science,  economy,  law,  theology, 
religion,  humor,  art,  satire,  travels,  botany,  sociology, 
astronomy,  physics,  prohibition,  zoology,  drama,  new 
thought,  agriculture,  medicine,  engineering,  ornithology, 
archaeology,  orientology,  poetry,  music,  anthropology, 
mem'oirs,  commerce,  fairy  tales,  biology,  geology,  finance, 
salesmanship,  languages,  ethnology,  textbooks,  psychol- 
ogy, bibliography,  forestry,  chemistry,  technology,  ex- 
pression, transportation,  songs,  hymns,  dentistry,  social 
etiquette,  metaphysics,  biography,  etymology,  telephony, 
and  stock-breeding. 

Chicago's  list  includes  fifty-eight  who  have  successfully 
penetrated  the  realm  of  popular  romance. 

An  accurate  listing  of  these  forces  is  so  difficult  that 
the  bibliophiles  and  librarians  admit  their  own  knowledge 
and  records  are  sadly  incomplete,  but  a  few  of  the  more 
prominent  have  been  included  in  this  survey. 

Among  the  historians  are :  Capt.  A.  C.  Andreas. 
Solon  Buck,  E.  B.  Washburne,  I.  N.  Arnold,  Elias  Col- 
bert, Rufus  Blanchard,  Wm.  Henry  Smith,  William 
Bross,  A.  N.  Marquis,  Carter  H.  Harrison,  Caroline  M. 
Mcllvaine,  Joseph  Kirkland,  and  Milo  Milton  Ouaife. 

256 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

In  the  line  of  newspaper  authorities  are:  Franc  E. 
Wilkie,  Frances  Eastman,  and  Edward  G.  Mason. 

Notable  among  the  historical  romancers  are :  Mrs.  Kin- 
zie:  Wait  Bun  (the  earliest  epic  of  the  Northwest); 
Mary  H.  Catherwood :  Story,  of  Tonfy,  and  Old  Kas- 
kaskia;  Randall  Parrish:  When  Wilderness  zvas  King 
(this  author  has  written  twenty-three  books  in  the  past 
fifteen  years,  with  a  sale  of  over  2,000,000  copies)  ; 
Clark  E.  Carr:  The  Illini  and  The  Iron  Way;  Emerson 
Hough:  The  Mississippi  Bubble,  54-40  or  Fight,  The 
Way  of  the  West,  (and  many  other  books  preserving 
the  annals  of  the  fast-vanishing  frontier). 

xA.mong  valuable  contributions  to  literary  history  are: 
Percy  Boynton's:  Book  of  American  Poetry;  Myra 
Reynolds':  Elizabethan  Poetry;  E.  Preston  Darvan's : 
Romance  Literature,  and  Martin  Schutze's :  German  Lit- 
erature. The  University  of  Chicago  has  been  a  prolific 
source  of  book  writing;  its  leaders  will  be  enumerated  in 
another  part  of  this  article. 

From  Chicago  went :  Julian  Street,  one  of  the  best 
correspondents  of  the  time,  Frank  D.  Crane,  Harrison 
Rhodes,  Peter  Finley  Dunn,  of  Collier's  —  in  fact  this 
city  has  been  a  most  popular  recruiting  point  for  eastern 
publications.  From  the  school  of  the  newspaper  came: 
George  Ade,  America's  greatest  humorist;  and  John  T. 
McCutcheon,  the  cartoonist  whose  text  is  as  telling  as 
his  wonderful  variety  of  engaging  subjects.  This  pair 
are  among  the  best-known  Chicagoans  in  the  whole  world. 

In  an  earlier  chapter  it  was  stated  that  Chicago  was  a 
good  place  for  children.  It  was  the  home  of  the  im- 
mortal Eugene  Field,  "the  children's  poet"  and  a  capti- 

257 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

vating  humorist;  likewise  of  Frank  L.  Baum,  the  famous 
"  funny  man,"  progenitor  of  The  Wizard  of  O^.  Here 
dwells  Elizabeth  Harrison,  whose  fairy  tales  are  alto- 
gether charming.  The  eminent  litterateur,  Mrs.  Elia  W. 
Peattie,  wrote  the  A::alia  books,  The  Beleaguered  Forest, 
The  Shapes  of  Fear  (ghost  stories)  and  many  other  ro- 
mances for  the  older  grown.  Georgene  Faulkner,  the 
"  Story  Lady,"  has  added  fables  of  many  lands ;  Clara 
Laughlin  has  written  helpful  books  for  girls;  likewise 
Clara  Louise  Burnham,  Elizabeth  Harmon,  Emily  C. 
Blake,  Ann  H.  Woodruff,  Lucy  Fitch  Perkins,  and  Alice 
B.  Riley.  Among  the  writers  of  stories  for  boys  are: 
H.  F.  Saylor,  Frank  W.  Weil,  W.  F.  Winslow,  Josiah  H. 
Willard,  H.  S.  Canfield,  and  Willis  D.  Abbott. 

The  newest  intellectual  movement  is  vers  libre.  It  fills 
a  certain  graphic  niche  in  the  times — broad  stroked, 
virile,  epigrammatic  —  it  has  its  place,  stirring  and  vivid, 
destined  not  to  live  unless  perhaps  it  be  to  create  ex- 
pression. Chicago,  it  is  claimed,  produced  the  first  mag- 
azine devoted  to  poetry,  and  its  best  exponents  are 
Harriet  Monroe,  Vachel  Lindsay,  Carl  Sandburg,  Edgar 
Lee  Masters,  and  many  others. 

The  writing  of  a  book,  like  the  painting  of  a  picture, 
to  be  of  real  value,  must  aim  at  something  new.  Chi- 
cago writers  breathe  the  spirit  of  originality.  Whether 
there  is  a  spirit  in  the  West  that  sharpens  the  imagination 
with  vividness,  terseness,  and  spice,  there  is  certainly 
something — at  once  refreshing,  human,  and  pertinent  — 
that  stamps  the  western  writer  with  vision  and  outlook, 
typical  of  his  city  and  his  generation. 

We  have  our  standard  literature  in  the  works  of  the 

258 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

old  writers.  Their  imitators  are  few  and  poor  at  the 
best.  Their  genius  is  not  the  genius  of  the  present  day. 
What  of  it?  We  hear  people  say,  "This  or  that  book 
will  not  live."  The  same  is  said  about  artists  and  their 
work.  Fiddlesticks !  Who  can  tell  what  will  live  ?  Im- 
mortals are  all  about  us,  and  the  best  part  of  it  is,  our 
writers  of  the  day  give  us  what  we  seem  to  need  in  our 
day  and  generation.  The  old  stuff  is  all  well  enough, 
but  to  give  people  what  they  need  when  they  need  it  is 
something  not  to  be  despised,  even  if  it  does  not  quite 
square  with  the  so-called  "  standards."  The  best  part  of 
the  NOW  is  that  new  standards  are  made  every  day,  and 
so  long  as  these  fill  a  useful  purpose  they  should  not  be 
derided. 

It  is  through  its  scientists  that  Chicago  has  contributed 
great  wealth  and  lasting  worth  to  the  storehouse  of  use- 
ful knowledge.  Many  of  America's  most  profound 
thinkers  and  ablest  writers  are  included  in  the  remarkable 
list  of  Chicago  authors  who  have  covered  every  known 
branch  of  research  and  learning. 

The  so-called  literary  chit-chat  of  the  day,  embracing 
the  modern  novel,  takes  no  serious  thought  of  real  things 
in  the  world  of  true  worth.  The  pleasing  light  and  gay 
fiction  of  the  hour  is  good  in  its  way  and  place,  but  it 
has  no  real  part  in  shaping  the  mental  or  moral  develop- 
ment of  a  people  or  a  community.  I  recall  a  certain 
literary  critic  and  writer  of  standing  who,  on  occasion, 
devoted  himself  to  the  subject,  "  Civilized  Chicago."  His 
article,  which  was  good,  but  under  a  bad'  title,  was  breezy 
and  brilliant,  if  somewhat  frothy.  It  depicted  Chicago's 
literary  merit  after  the  fashion  of  the  day  solely  from 

259 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

the  standpoint  of  its  fiction  writers,  poets,  and  humorists. 
It  was  satisfying  and  complete  from  that  standpoint  but 
imagine  such  a  thing!  When  and  where  do  the  writers 
of  fiction,  especially  much  of  the  present-day  sort,  come 
in  on  the  question  of  civilization?  Rather  these  may 
have  had  much  to  do  with  un-civilization.  As  a  barome- 
ter of  true  culture  and  mental  development,  their  works 
have  no  significance  whatever.  The  things  which  really 
are  basic  in  civilization  spring  from  deep  crystal  pools  of 
the  world's  knowledge  and  research.  Of  these  Chicago 
is  deeply  blessed  and  exceedingly  prolific.  The  works  of 
its  noted  authors  upon  serious  subjects  have  no  place  in 
the  noisy  advertisements  proclaiming  the  ''best  sellers." 
These  are  known  to  the  thoughtful  and  truly  cultured  — 
the  thirsters  after  knowledge. 

One  of  the  greatest,  most  fascinating,  and  far-reaching 
chapters  in  Chicago's  real  development  is  told  in  its 
hundreds  of  writers,  with  their  thousands  of  titles  on  sub- 
jects which  elevate  the  morals  of  man  and  add  richly  to 
his  knowledge  and  usefulness.  Seldom,  if  ever,  has  any- 
one taken  the  trouble  to  survey  this  field.  It  is  perhaps 
covered  here  in  all  its  completeness  for  the  first  time. 

In  passing,  a  most  interesting  fact  should  be  related  — 
Chicago  publishes  two  very  unique  and  useful  books. 
These  are :  Who's  Who  in-  America  and  the  Chicago  Daily 
Nezvs  Almanac  and  Year  Book.  Who's  Who  tells  who 
the  notables  of  America  are,  and  the  Daily  News  Al- 
manac is  a  chronicle  of  facts  and  events.  Both  are  indis- 
pensable reference  books  for  the  busy  man.  Among  the 
biographies  of  the  distinguished  men  and  women  of 
America,   Who's  IJlw  lists  more  than   1,200  names  of 

260 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

notable  Chicagoans.  You  really  have  to  be  somebody 
or  to  have  done  something  worth  while  to  get  into  Who's 
Who.  This  invaluable  encyclopedia  of  notables  has  been 
imitated,  but  never  successfully.  In  its  first  volume  pub- 
lished in  1899  there  were  only  8,602  biographies,  while 
in  its  publication  of  1918  there  were  21,922.  It  is  a 
biennial  publication. 

The  Daily  News  Almanac  and  Year  Bvok,  published 
by  one  of  America's  greatest  daily  newspapers,  contained 
(1918)  more  than  25,000  subjects  of  current  and  past 
events  of  leading  importance  in  the  world.  In  that  year 
its  new  matter  was  devoted  largely  to  facts  connected 
with  the  entry  of  the  United  States  into  the  Great  War. 

Chicago  has  many  nationally  renowned  lawyers  and 
equally  distinguished  authors  on  law  matters.  Among 
these  are :  John  H.  Wigmore,  Albert  M.  Kales,  Floyd 
Russell  Mecham,  James  L.  High,  John  Lewis,  J.  D. 
Andrews,  Edgar  A.  Bancroft,  George  P.  Costigan, 
Walter  W.  Cook,  William  C.  Sprague,  Harry  A.  Bige- 
low,  Lewis  Boisot,  and  many  others.  It  may  be  recorded 
in  passing  that  Chicago  has  four  of  the  most  complete 
private  law  libraries  in  the  country.  It  is  said  that  the 
private  library  of  Elbridge  Gerry  of  New  York  is  the 
only  one  comparable  with  these  for  completeness,  em- 
bracing rare  Scotch  and  Irish  as  well  as  Canadian  re- 
ports. 

With  its  complex  citizenry  embracing  every  nationality 
of  the  entire  globe,  Chicago  is  naturally  a  place  where 
social  science  is  both  understood  and  practiced.  Chicago 
has  a  score  of  sociologists,  among  whom  are  many  noted 
authors.    These  are  led  by  the  late  Professor  Charles  R. 

261 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Henderson ;  others  are :  Albion  W.  Small ;  Jane  Addams ; 
Walter  C.  Larned ;  Katherine  E.  Dopp ;  Mrs.  Joseph  T. 
Bowen,  and  William  Burgess. 

Distinguished  economists  of  Chicago,  who  are  known 
wherever  the  criterion  of  efficiency  is  recognized,  especi- 
ally in  public  affairs,  number  in  their  ranks  such  authors 
as  Leroy  C.  Marshall,  P.  Orman  Ray,  Clarence  S.  Dar- 
row,  James  A.  Field,  Walter  F.  Dodd,  Charles  E.  Mer- 
riam.  Earl  D.  Howard,  and  J.  Lawrence  Laughlin,  head 
of  the  Department  of  Political  Economy  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago.  Laughlin  who  is  the  author  of  many 
books,  is  distinguished  as  an  international  authority  and 
he  has  many  times  been  honored  and  commissioned  by 
foreign  countries. 

It  is  befitting  that  as  a  foremost  music  center  Chicago 
should  have  a  number  of  authors  on  matters  of  music 
as  well  as  several  composers  of  first  rank.  Felix  Borow- 
ski,  writer,  lecturer  upon  musical  history,  and  president 
of  the  Chicago  Musical  College,  is  noted  as  a  composer  of 
works  for  the  orchestra.  George  Upton,  journalist,  is  an 
author  of  distinct  merit  and  versatility  on  musical  sub- 
jects and  people  and  is  a  translator  and  critic. 

Adolf  Brune,  instructor  in  musical  theory,  is  author 
and  composer  of  many»  songs ;  Eleanor  Everett  Fraer  is  a 
composer  and  advocate  of  vocal  music  in  English  in  Eng- 
lish-speaking countries  as  a  necessary  step  toward  the 
progress  of  natural  musical  art,  and  is  author  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  songs  to  the  best  English  and  Ameri- 
can lyrics ;  John  Alden  Carpenter  is  a  composer  for 
violin  and  piano,  orchestra,  and  orchestra  and  piano,  also 
numerous  published  songs.    Among  the  composers  whose 

262 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

works  have  found  a  place  in  the  Orchestra  Library  are: 
Frederick  A.  Stock,  director  of  the  Symphony  Orchestra, 
FeHx  Borowski,  Eric  De  Lamarter  (the  brilhant  young 
American  directing  the  orchestra  temporarily) ;  Arne 
Oldburg,  and  Adolph  Weidig. 

In  the  field  of  light  opera  and  musical  comedy  Chicago 
has  been  important:  Harry  B.  Smith  and  Reginald  De 
Koven  wrote  Tke  Begum,  Robin  Hood,  (the  latter  one  of 
the  most  successful  of  romantic  operas)  ;  Hough  and 
Adams  collaborated  musical  comedies;  likewise  Joseph 
Herbert,  Joseph  E.  Howard,  Fred  Donaghey,  Stanley 
Wood,  Frank  Pixley,  George  Ade,  Guy  F.  Steeley,  and 
Bert  Leston  Taylor. 

Two  Chicagoans  furnished  both  words  and  music  for 
their  own  grand  operas  :  Silas  G.  Pratt :  Zenobia,  Queen 
of  Palmyra,  and  Frederick  Grant  Gleason :  Otho  Vis- 
conti. 

Mrs.  Carrie  Jacobs  Bond,  composer  of  The  End  of  a 
Perfect  Day,  is  a  Chicagoan;  likewise  Egbert  Van  Als- 
tyne,  a  power  in  the  realm  of  popular  song. 

These  are  a  few  among  the  many  who  have  helped  to 
make  Chicago  recognized  as  a  center  of  production  as 
well  as  a  center  of  direction  and  execution. 

Chicago  having  taken  an  advanced  position  in  things 
theatrical,  it  was  natural  that  a  community  center  like 
Hull  House  should  have  its  own  theater;  that  Maurice 
Browne  should  have  established  the  Little  Theater,  and 
Mrs.  Aldis  the  New  Theater,  specializing  in  modern 
short  and  problem  plays. 

Among  the  playwrights  are:  Elwyn  A.  Barron,  Will 
D.   Eaton,   Leonard   Grover,   Edward   Owings   Towne, 

263 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Bartley  Campbell,  Harry  Lacy,  Charles  Dickens,  David 
Higgins,  Clara  Lipman,  Guy  F.  Steeley,  Harry  L.  Ham- 
lin, Lincoln  J.  Carter,  Frank  L.  Baum,  Stanley  Wood, 
A,  Milo  Bennett,  Joseph  Byron  Totten,  Marjorie  Benton 
Cooke,  Joseph  Arthur,  Louis  J.  Block,  Ralph  Ketterling, 
William  Anthony  MacGuire,  Charles  T.  Dazey,  Austin 
Granville,  Alice  Gerstenberg,  Joseph  Medill  Patterson, 
Edward  Sheldon,  George  Broadhurst,  and  Ashton  Ste- 
vens ;  not  forgetting  Jack  Lait,  who  wrote :  The  Bo- 
hemian, Help  Wanted  (the  best  business,  play  of  the 
decade),  and  that  brilliant  pair,  the  Hattons,  who  have 
furnished  such  stage  successes  as :  The  Great  Lover;  Up 
Stairs  and  Down;  Lomhardi,  L't'd,  and  The  Call  of 
Youth. 

In  the  realms  of  romance,  only  a  few  of  the  famed 
ones  can  be  remarked :  Henry  B.  Fuller,  Frank  Norris, 
Robert  Herrick,  Paul  Carus,  Theodore  Dreiser,  Mts. 
Catherwood,  Mrs.  Peattie,  Mrs.  De  Koven,  Clara  E. 
Laughlin,  Opie  Read,  Lillian  Bell,  Walter  Fitch  Field, 
George  Barr  McCutcheon,  Margaret  Horton  Pottfer,  \K\\\ 
Payne,  Mary  Synon,  Edna  Ferber,  Maud  Radford  War- 
ren, Samuel  Merwin,  Howard  Vincent  O'Brien,  Hamlin 
Garland,  Rex  Beach,  Emerson  Hough,  William  B.  Mac- 
Harg,  I,  K.  Friedman,  Edgar  Rice  Burroughs,  Edwin 
Balmer,  and  Henry  Kitchell  Webster.  These  and  a  score 
of  others  have  been  keen  in  depicting  the  actual  human 
beings  of  America,  as  one  critic  puts  it:  "To  make  the 
new  sort  of  novel  a  big  living  thing,  and  to  round  it  into 
a  creation  of  substantial  worth." 

English  and  English  criticism  have  eminent  authorities 
in   this   city:   William   Morton    Payne,    Richard   Green 

264 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Moulton,  Robert  M.  Lovett,  John  Mathews  Manly, 
Arthur  C.  L.  Brown,  Edwin  H.  Lewis,  and  Josephine 
C.  Baker,  may  be  mentioned. 

Ethics  is  a  subject  to  which  Chicago  men,  famous 
abroad  and  at  home,  have  contributed  brilHantly.  Their 
names  are  household  words  to  cultured  people  everywhere 
and  their  books  are  legion.  Those  in  the  forefront  are: 
Dr.  Frank  W.  Gunsaulus,  Dr.  Frank  Crane,  M.  M.  Man- 
gasarian,  Paul  Carus,  Newell  Dwight  Hillis,  now  of 
Brooklyn,  and  Dr.  Emil  G.  Hirsch,  pastor  of  Sinai  Con- 
gregation. 

Plant  life  is  alwa3^s  interesting.  From  the  time  of 
Theophrastus,  three  hundred  years  before  Christ,  who 
w^rote  a  history  of  plants,  down  to  Otto  Brunfels,  who 
restored  the  science  of  botany  in  Europe  in  1530,  and 
down  to  the  present  time,  plant  life  has  been  one  of 
nature's  chief  gifts  for  the  enjoyment  of  man.  Charles 
F.  Millspaugh  and  James  M.  Coulter  lead  the  field  of 
Chicago  botanists.  Millspaugh,  lecturer  on  economic 
botany  at  the  University  of  Chicago  and  explorer  of 
Mexico,  the  West  Indies,  Brazil,  and  a  number  of  unin- 
habited Bahama  Islands,  is  the  author  of  many  noted 
volumes.  Coulter,-  head  of  the  Department  of  Botany 
of  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  agent  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  of  Washington,  D.  C.  and  president 
of  the  Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences,  is  likewise  a  prolific 
author..  Others  of  renown  are :  Charles  B.  Atwell,  pro- 
fessor of  Northwestern  University;  Janet  R.  Perkins, 
Otis  W.  Caldwell,  and  William  J.  G.  Land. 

Allied  with  botany  are  the  sciences  of  geology,  for- 
estry, and  agriculture.    Among  Chicago's  eminent  geolo- 

265 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

gists  are:  Stewart  Weller,  U.  S.  Grant,  and  Oliver  C. 
Farrington.  Chicago's  leading  author  on  forestry 
(editor  and  writer  of  many  books)  is 'George  W.  Hotch- 
kiss.  John  M.  Stahl,  on  agriculture,  is  a  leader  in  the 
Good  Roads  movement,  lecturer,  conspicuous  as  a  writer 
on  economic  agricultural  subjects  and  the  first  to  pro- 
pose rural  free  delivery  for  the  farmer  in  1879.  Truman 
vS.  Palmer  made  a  specialty  of  the  culture  of  sugar  beets 
and  has  written  extensively  upon  this  and  other  subjects. 

Ornithology  has  developed  a  literature  of  magnitude 
and  wide  range.  Chicago's  apostles  of  bird  science  are 
among  the  most  noted  in  the  country.  Charles  Barney 
Cory,  professor  and  honorary  curator  of  the  Department 
of  Zoology  of  the  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History,  is 
the  author  of  nearly  twenty  volumes  on  the  birds  of 
Magdalen  Islands,  the  Bahamas,  Haiti,  and  surrounding 
West  Indies,  eastern  North  America,  shore  birds  of 
North  America,  water  birds  of  Florida,  birds  of  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin,  and  the  beautiful  and  curious  birds  of 
all  the  world. 

Zoology  claims  as  its  principal  authorities  in  Chicago 
Horatio  H.  Newman,  dean  in  the  College  of  Science  of 
the  University  of  Chicago,  and  William  Albert  Locy, 
professor  of  Northwestern  University.  The  late  Samuel 
Williston  was  Chicago's  most  distinguished  palaeontolo- 
gist. He  was  the  professor  occupying  that  chair  in  the 
University  of  Chicago,  author  of  many  books  and  more 
than  250  scientific  papers. 

Biology,  the  science  dealing  with  the  origin  and  life 
history  of  plants  and  animals,  has  a  famed  author  in 
Charles  Manning  Child  also  of  the  university. 

266 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Archaeology,  the  science  of  antiquities,  has  here  the 
eminent  author,  Frank  Bigelow  Tarbell  of  the  university 
and  the  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

The  enchantment  of  the  Orient !  How  we  are  charmed 
with  its  mystery,  its  dead  and  all  but  forgotten  past. 
Much  of  the  pleasure  and  all  of  the  knowledge  of  the  East 
we  owe  to  the  orientalist.  Chicago  and  the  Far  East  are 
brought  close  together  through  its  extraordinary  writers 
on  this  subject.  James  H.  Breasted,  professor  of  Egypt- 
ology and  Oriental  History,  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
is  not  only  a  distinguished  author,  but  he  has  been  a 
collector  for  the  university,  in  Egypt,  and  was  com- 
missioned by  the  royal  academies  of  Germany  —  Berlin, 
Leipsig,  Munich,  and  Gottingen  —  to  inspect  the  museums 
of  Europe  to  copy  and  arrange  the  Egyptian  inscriptions 
,  in  those  museums  for  the  Egyptian  dictionary  of  the 
academies.  Ira  M.  Price,  another  of  Chicago's  famed 
orientalists,  is  the  professor  of  Semetic  languages  and 
literature  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  the  author  of 
some  fifteen  volumes ;  and  Olaf  H.  Toff'teen,  professor 
of  Semetic  languages  of  the  Western  Theological  Sem- 
inary, is  equally  distinguished. 

Philology  brings  Chicago  and  its  famous  universities 
again  into  the  lime-light.  Francis  Asbury  Wood,  pro- 
fessor of  German  philology  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
is  an  extensive  author  and  authority.  Equally  distin- 
guished is  G.  O.  Curme,  professor  of  German  philology 
of  Northwestern  University.  Conspicuous  also  is  the 
authorship  of  Carl  Darling  Buck,  head  of  the  Department 
of  Sanskrit  and  Indo-European  Comparative  Philology 
of  the  University  of  Chicago.     William  Rainey  Harper, 

267 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

former  president  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  was  a 
celebrated  Hebrew  scholar  and  writer.  Among  others  of 
Chicago's  linguistic  authorities  are  —  A.  L.  Elmquist, 
Robert  Bonner,  Edgar  J.  Goodspeed,  Paul  Shorey,  James 
Taft  Hatfield,  Starr  W.  Cutting,  Nathaniel  Butler,  Gor- 
don J.  Laing,  Frank  J.  Muller,  Elmer  T.  Merrill,  Robert 
Francis  Harper,  John  J.  Meyers,  Frederick  C.  L.  Van 
Steenderen,  Elizabeth  Wallace,  and  Samuel  A.  B.  Mercer. 

Ethnology  has  in  Chicago  an  authority  on  the  African 
race,  George  W.  Ellis.  Anthropology  has  found  local 
authorship  by  authorities  of  great  repute.  Conspicuous 
among  these  are — 'Berthold  Laufer,  George  A.  Dorsey. 
and  Frederick  Starr  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  the 
latter  most  authoritative  on  Mexico  and  Japan. 

Chicago,  the  Great  Central  Market,  is  the  business  hub 
of  America.  As  a  center  of  commerce  and  finance,  it  be- 
lieves in  science  in  business  and  has  produced  a  large 
number  of  authors  on  business  subjects,  some  of  whom 
are  eminently  recognized  as  standard  authorities.  Authors 
on  finance  are :  George  E.  Roberts,  ex-president  of  the 
United  States  Mint ;  Brig.-Gen.  Charles  G.  Dawes,  Comp- 
troller of  the  Currency  during  President  McKinley's  ad- 
ministration, and  one  of  the  first  to  volunteer  in  the 
Great  War ;  David  R.  Forgan,  bank  president  whose  writ- 
ings on  finance  have  attracted  wide  attention ;  and  Willard 
E.  Hotchkiss,  dean  of  the  School  of  Commerce  of  North- 
western University, 

Salesmanship  is  a  profession  in  Chicago.  Arthur  F. 
Sheldon  founded  the  science  of  Salesmanship  in  Chicago. 
His  numerous  books  are  standard  wherever  English  is 
spoken    and    salesmanship    is   a   vocation.      Walter    D. 

268 


Chicago.     Illinois  Centennial  Monument  in  Logan  Square  on  the 
great  "  forty-mile "  park  and  boulevard  circuit. 


^iXd^"^^ 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Moody  is  the  author  of  Men  Who  Sell  Things,  treat- 
ing on  the  peculiarities  of  salesmen  and  the  reasons  for 
their  failure,  now  in  its  fifteenth  edition  and  sold  in 
wholesale  quantities  to  large  firms  throughout  the  United 
States,  Canada,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand.  George 
H.  Lorimer,  editor  of  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  and 
formerly  of  Chicago,  contributed  a  boon  to  business  in 
his  famous  book,  A  Self-made  Merchant's  Letters  to  his 
Son.  Sherwin  Cody  is  the  most  noted  authority  on  the 
written  method  of  business  in  America  and  how  to  deal 
with  human  nature  in  business.  Cody  is  also  a  dis- 
tinguished writer  on  other  subjects.  There  are  also  Solo- 
mon H.  Clark,  on  public  utilities ;  Waldo  R.  Browne  and 
Samuel  O.  Deem,  on  transportation ;  Kempster  B.  Miller, 
on  telephony ;  and  Slason  Thompson  on  railway  statistics. 
Henry  M.  Hyde,  Arthur  A.  Evans,  and  Forrest  Crissey 
are  among  a  host  of  Chicago  writers  on  business. 

Mathematics,  the  bulwark  of  all  business,  has  a  con- 
spicuous place  in  the  field  of  Chicago  authors.  Among 
these  are:  Leonard  E.  Dickson,  Ernest  J.  Wilczynski, 
Donald  F.  Campbell,  Jacob  W.  A.  Young,  Herbert  E. 
Slought,  and  Thomas  F.  Holgate.  Allied  with  those  in 
this  field  are  several  authors  of  prominence  on  various 
subjects.  These  are  Holbert  P.  Gillette  on  mining  engi- 
neering; Joseph  G.  Branch,  celebrated  authority  on  elec- 
trical engineering;  Lyman  E.  Cooley,  renowned  on  civil 
engineering  and  prominent  in  Missouri  and  Mississippi 
River  and  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  improvements ;  Charles 
S.  Hill,  special  authority  on  concrete  construction;  and 
Edward  E.  Tratman,  editor  of  the  Engineering  Ncivs 
and  author  of  books  on  railway  construction.     Others  in 

269 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

this  general  group  are:  Henry  J.  Cox,  meteorologist; 
Henry  Crew,  professor  of  physics  of  the  Northwestern 
University;  and  Carl  Kinsley,  professor  of  physics  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  —  both  leading  physicists  and  ex- 
tensive writers;  Alfred  S.  Johnson,  editor  of  the  Techni- 
cal World,  and  Oliver  H.  Basqnin,  professor  of  applied 
mechanics  at  Northwestern  University. 

The  clergy  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Chicago  are  busy 
men,  as  they  term  it,  of  "the  brick  and  mortar  stage." 
The  leaders,  however,  have  found  time  to  put  pen  to 
paper  potentially.  Most  Reverend  George  W.  Munde- 
lein,  D.  D.,  Archbishop,  has  a  most  interesting  book  in 
Crozvded  Years;  Right  Reverend  Monsignor  Francis  C. 
Kelley,  D.  D.,  head  of  the  church  extension  movement, 
has  written  Letters  to  Jack,  Charred  Wood,  The  Book 
of  Red  and  Yellozv,  and  The  Last  Bnttle  of  the  Gods;  and 
Father  George  Blatter,  La  Ciudad  de  Dios.  Some  other 
churchly  writers  of  note  are  Father  Charles  Coppens, 
Father  Henry  S.  Spaulding,  Father  Seitenberg,  and 
Father  McGovern. 

An  exceedingly  interesting  and  miscellaneous  group  of 
authors  writing  on  specific  subjects  are :  Philip  Fox,  on 
astronomy;  Wilfred  H.  Osgood,  naturalist;  Henry  G. 
Bell,  agronomist,  author  of  works  on  soil  improvement 
and  crop  production;  A.  A.  Stagg,  athletics;  Alice  P. 
Norton,  on  domestic  science ;  Walter  Taylor  Field,  essay- 
ist, editor  and  lecturer  on  art  and  literature;  Alvin  H. 
Sanders  on  stock  breeding;  Mary  B.  K.  Sherman,  author 
of  Parliamentary  Lazv  and  Procedure;  Frederick  A.. 
Cook  of  Polar  Expedition  fame;  Waldo  R.  Browne, 
editor  and  compiler,  author  of  miscellaneous  works ;  Ken- 

270 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

dall  Banning  and  Burton  Haseltine,  songs;  travels  by- 
Mary  R.  Mann,  Frances  Kinsley  Hutchinson,  Georgiana 
P.  Curtis,  and  John  U.  Higinbotham ;  John  Thomas 
Richards,  author  of  Ahraham  Lincoln,  the  Lawyer- 
Statesman.  Louis  K.  Sullivan,  I.  K.  Pond,  Charles  E. 
White,  architecture;  Charles  W.  French,  Lincoln  Re- 
views; Olaf  F.  Bonggren,  (theosophical)  ;  Marion  Tal- 
bot, (sanitation)  ;  Edith  Belle  Lowry,  (hygiene)  ;  Isaac 
E.  Brown,  (Y.  M.  C.  A.)  ;  Ezra  D.  Sanderson,  (etymol- 
ogy) ;  Alonzo  Wilson,  (prohibition)  ;  Robert  M.  Cum- 
nock, rhetorician  of  the  Northwestern  University,  and 
Anna  Morgan,  (expression) ;  William  A.  Nitze,  pro- 
fessor and  head  of  the  Department  of  Romance  languages 
and  literature  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  lecturer, 
editor,  and  author  of  classic  works;  Solomon  H.  Clark, 
(public  speaking)  ;  Rabbi  I.  Coffee,  (Hebrew  cosmology)  ; 
William  C.  Wilkinson,  author  of  various  religious  writ- 
ings, and  also  some  thirty-five  books;  John  R.  Gregg, 
authority  on  stenography  and  author  of  many  books; 
Verne  H.  Porter  and  Edward  F.  Williams,  on  biography ; 
Isabel  Crawford,  missionary  among  the  blanket  Indians 
in  Oklahoma;  Elwood  M.  Wherry,  noted  missionary  to 
China;  Alexander  J.  Mclvor-Tyndall,  noted  lecturer  and 
author  of  many  works  on  metaphysics;  Askel  G.  S. 
Josephson  and  Charles  Evans,  bibliography;  and  Ursula 
N.  Gestefeld  and  William  W.  Atkinson  on  New  Thought. 
The  latter  perhaps  is  the  most  distinguished  &nd  prolific 
writer  in  America  upon  the  subject,  having  written  some 
sixty-five  books. 

Art    and    art    subjects    claim    the    eminent    sculptor, 
Lorado  Taft,  of  the  University  of  Chicago.    His  History 

271 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

of  American  Sculptors  is  standard.  An  artist  of  note 
himself,  Sargent  is  a  lecturer  on  art  topics.  Earl  Reed, 
president  of  the  American  Etchers  Society,  has  written 
and  illustrated  a  series  of  books  on  the  Dunes  and  the 
Dune  people  that  blend  art  and  literature  most  charm- 
ingly. 

Authors  of  educational  subjects  in  Chicago  number 
among  their  ranks  several  renowned  educators.  Princi- 
pal among  these  are  Ella  Flagg  Young  (deceased), 
America's  foremost  woman  educator;  Bishop  Samuel 
Fallows  and  Samuel  C.  Parker,  Hubert  M.  Skinner; 
Helen  E.  Starrett,  and  Elmer  E.  Jones  of  Northwestern 
University. 

Chicago  has  more  than  twenty  historians  who  have 
written  books  of  special  note.  Renowned  among  these 
are:  Harry  Pratt  Judson,  president  of  the  University  of 
Chicago;  Andrew  C.  McLaughlin,  and  James  A.  James. 
Other  authors  of  history  of  merit  are :  Eleanor  Atkinson ; 
Jennie  Hall;  John  S.  White,  children's  history;  John  J. 
Carroll ;  James  W.  Thompson ;  the  late  Henry  E.  Legler 
of  the  Chicago  Public  Library,  and  others. 

Among  the  authors  of  textbooks  in  Chicago  are :  Lor- 
aine  E.  Wooster,  and  Florence  Holbrook,  school  prin- 
cipal. 

Some  of  Chicago's  authorities  on  psychology  are : 
Charles  H.  Judd,  James  R.  Angell,  Walter  Dill  Scott,  and 
Herman  T.  Lukens. 

Philosophy  embraces  a  group  of  eminent  authors  in 
Chicago,  including  James  H.  Tufts,  Charles  Coppens, 
Edward  S.  Ames,  and  Addison  W.  Moore.  (Other  noted 
authors  in  Chicago,  such  as  Professor  David  Swing,  Dr. 

272 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

Emil  G.  Hirsch,  and  Dr.  Frank  W,  Gimsaulus,  are  clas- 
sified elsewhere). 

I  have  purposely  left  until  the  last  two  leading  fields  of 
authorship  in  Chicago  —  medicine  and  its  allied  branches 
and  theology  and  religious  writings.  It  is  in  keeping  with 
the  greatness  of  Chicago  that  the  physical  and  the  spirit- 
ual should  top  the  entire  list  of  distinguished  authors  in 
the  world's  fifth  city — and  due  to  the  destruction  of 
man-power  in  Europe  owing  to  the  Great  War  —  pos- 
sibly now  the  third  in  population  of  all  the  great  cities. 
A  city  cannot  be  sound  mentally  and  morally  save  as  it  is 
sound  physically,  and  it  cannot  be  sound  morally  unless 
its  morals  are  grounded  in  the  bedrock  of  spirituality. 
Both  in  the  religious  and  the  medical  field  of  practice, 
Chicago  leads  the  country  and  it  is  natural  that  it  should 
lead  also,  in  authorships  in  these  great  branches  of  human 
endeavor. 

Chicago  is  the  foremost  medical  center  of  America.  It 
has  many  world-noted  physicians;  nearly  all  of  them  are 
authors.  Those  who  are  listed,  insofar  as  has  been  ob- 
tainable, cover,  including  allied  professions,  fourteen 
specific  branches,  embracing  thirty-four  authors  who  have 
written  138  books.  Doubtless  there  are  many  others  but 
this  is  the  most  complete  list  obtainable  and  it  covers  the 
following  subjects  and  their  authors :  Isaac  A.  Abt,  chil- 
dren's specialist;  Isaac  M.  Hays,  diseases  of  the  eye; 
Casey  A.  Wood,  and  Thomas  A.  Woodruff,  noted  ophthal- 
mologists ;  the  distinguished  Colonel  Frank  Billings,  gen- 
eral medicine;  the  eminent  doctors,  Nicholas  Senn  and 
John  B.  Murphy  (both  deceased),  surgery;  Archibald 
Church,  nervous  diseases;  Seth  S.  Bishop,  throat,  nose, 

27Z 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

and  ear;  Maj.  George  de  Tarnowsky  and  Edwin  H. 
Pratt,  surgery;  Charles  D.  Bacon  and  Joseph  B.  de  Lee, 
obstetricians;  and  Henry  T.  Byford  and  E.  C.  Dudley, 
gynecology. 

Dentistry  and  dental  surgery  finds  in  Chicago  prac- 
titioners the  leaders  both  at  home  and  abroad,  both  as 
independent  investigators  and  scientists  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced type.  The  late  Dr.  G.  V.  Black,  who  has  been 
memorialized  in  bronze  in  Lincoln  Park  was  reckoned 
the  world's  leading  authority  in  dentistry.  Among  the 
other  famous  authorities  who  have  added  to  the  litera- 
ture in  this  line,  may  be  mentioned :  Dr.  Truman  W. 
Brophy,  oral  surgery,  one  of  America's  most  noted  dental 
surg-eons ;  Charles  M.  Johnson,  P.  J.  Buckley,  Thomas 
Gilmer,  Frederick  B.  Noyes ;  and  Eugene  S.  Talbot,  chair- 
man of  stomatology  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, who  has  written  no  less  than  eight  standard  works 
on  irregularities  of  the  teeth.  His  exhaustive  studies  of 
degeneracy  of  the  human  race,  as  manifest  in  the  jaws 
and  teeth  are  applied  science  of  convincing  and  interest- 
ing character. 

Ludvig  Hektoen  and  Harry  G.  Wells,  pathology; 
Richard  S.  Dewey,  alienist;  Edwin  O.  Jordan,  bac- 
teriology; Hermann  Hille,  noted  on  special  medical 
works;  John  H.  Long;  William  H.  Puckner,  Charles  N. 
Kennicott,  and  Frederick  L.  Dunlap,  chemistry ;  Winfield 
S.  Hall,  Albert  R.  Mathews,  William  S.  Sadler,  and 
Anton  J.  Carlson,  physiology;  Walter  S.  Haines,  toxi- 
cology; Francis  C.  Ford  and  Harris  E.  Santee,  anato- 
mists; Ralph  W.  Webster,  on  diagnostics;  and  William 
A.  Pusey,  dermatology. 

274 


INSPIRATION  AND  INFLUENCES 

The  number  of  authors  in  Chicago  who  have  written 
upon  rehgious  subjects  is  far  greater  than  that  of  any 
other  class  of  writers.  Insofar  as  could  be  reliably  as- 
certained, there  are  seventy-two  authors  who  have  written 
three  hundred  and  eighty-three  books  covering  every 
conceivable  branch  of  religious  topics.  This  list,  too 
numerous  to  mention  by  name  excepting  those  of  the 
most  noted  individuals,  contains  many  of  the  most 
famous  theologians  in  America  and  many  of  the  county's 
most  distinguished  clergymen  and  authors  of  religious 
works.  Grouped  with  these  are  three  of  the  nation's 
most  popular  authors  of  hymn  books  and  other  religious 
song  books.  Among  the  theologians,  several  of  whom 
are  instructors  in  Chicago's  many  prominent  theological 
schools,  are :  Franklin  Johnson,  Andrew  C.  Zenos,  James 
G.  K.  McClure,  Cleland  B.  McAfee,  James  S.  Stone, 
Samuel  G.  Ayres,  S.  C.  Bronson,  Carl  G.  Wallenius, 
George  H.  Geberding,  and  Clarence  Beckwith. 

Among  the  more  conspicuous  authors  of  religious 
works  have  been :  William  E.  Barton,  William  H.  Burns, 
Frederick  C.  Eiselen,  Frederick  A.  Noble,  Flenry  T. 
Cope,  William  H.  McGlauflin,  Theodore  G.  Soares, 
Shailer  Matthews,  Bishop  Charles  P.  Anderson,  Herbert 
Lockwood  Willett,  Bishop  Charles  E.  Cheney,  Right  Rev- 
erend Monsignor  Francis  C.  Kelley,  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones, 
Bishop  John  H.  Vincent,  James  V.  Blake,  Ernest  D. 
Burton,  Thomas  E.  Greene,  and  Professor  David  Swing, 

Chicago's  noted  authors  of  hymns  and  religious  songs 
are :  John  M.  Driver,  Ira  D.  Sankey,  Edwin  O.  Excell, 
Daniel  B.  Towner,  Daniel  Prothero,  and  James  MacDer- 
mid. 

275 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

It  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  the  inspiration  and  the 
influences  which  have  been  really  fundamental  in  be- 
getting in  Chicago  such  great  ideals  as  the  Plan  of  Chi- 
cago. This  has  its  fount  and  origin  in  Chicago's  deeply 
inbedded  wealth  of  cultural  atmosphere. 


276 


CHAPTER  XIII 

OTHER    INFLUENCES LIBRARIES,    SCHOOLS,    AND    SOCIAL 

CENTERS 

A  CITY  of  authors  and  a  city  of  libraries  are  seem- 
ingly if  not  actually  synonymous. 

Chicago's  libraries  are  as  interesting  as  they  are  im- 
portant. There  are,  including  the  branches  of  the  Pub- 
lic Library,  more  than  one  hundred  libraries  which  con- 
tain in  the  aggregate  about  3,500,000  books. 

Aside  from  the  Public  Library  and  its  forty-five 
branches,  others  of  importance  and  among  the  most  dis- 
tinctive and  valuable  in  America  are:  the  John  Crerar, 
scientific;  Newberry,  reference;  Ryerson,  art;  Field 
Museum,  natural  history;  Chicago  University,  law; 
Chicago  Historical  Society;  Chicago  Law  Institute;  the 
'French  Library;  Swedish  Historical  Society  of  America; 
Civil  War  Library;  Hebrew  Institute;  St.  Ignatius 
College;  Loyola  University;  Armour  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology ;  Rush  Medical  College ;  Chicago  Theological 
Seminary;  Garrett  Biblical  Institute;  and  the  McCormick 
Theological  Seminary. 

A  comprehensive  glance  at  the  names  and  nature  of 
these  libraries  will  demonstrate  their  wide  and  important 
range  of  subjects. 

Chicago's  Public  Library,  with  its  875,000  volumes 
(1917)  is  the  largest  in  America,  excepting  that  of  New 

2jy 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

York,  which  has  1,200,000  volumes.  On  the  basis  of 
population,  the  Chicago  library  contains  a  half  million 
more  books  than  New  York's. 

The  large  libraries  of  the  Old  World  are  the  British 
Museum,  4,000,000  volumes;  Bibliotheque  Nationale  of 
Paris,  3,000,000  volumes;  and  the  imperial  libraries  at 
Petrograd  and  Vienna.  The  only  library  in  this  countrj'' 
fairly  comparable  in  scope  and  resources  is  the  Library 
of  Congress,  which  contains  2,500,000  volumes. 

There  is  a  wide  divergence  in  their  functions,  and 
organization,  between  American  libraries  and  those  of 
Europe.  The  latter  are  for  the  learned.  The  great  royal 
and  national  libraries  are  treasure  houses  and  museums, 
containing  numberless  book  rarities  —  the  growth  of  cen- 
turies and  the  special  preserves  of  scholars.  Books  can 
be  used  only  within  the  precincts  of  the  library  and  even 
there  many  formalities  and  restrictions  are  encountered. 

The  value  of  a  public  library  is  in  its  books  and  its 
circulation  and  not  in  the  buildings.  But  the  matter  of 
convenience  for  distribution,  especially  in  branches,  is 
very  important.  As  to*  equipment  there  is  a  vast  differ- 
ence between  the  libraries  of  New  York  and  Chicago. 

As  to  circulation.  New  York  City  exceeds  Chicago  only 
in  the  number  of  volumes  circulated  per  year  —  the  most 
recent  figures  being  about  ten  million  in  New  York 
against  six  million  in  Chicago.  Again,  if  the  difference 
in  population  is  considered,  Chicago's  circulation  is  the 
greater  of  the  two  cities.  It  was  an  average  in  1918 
of  eight  books  to  each  of  the  719,656  families  in  Chi- 
cago. What  better  proof  could  there  be  that  Chicago  is 
a  reading  public? 

278 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

Chicagoans  are  proud  of  their  beautiful  library  on 
Michigan  Avenue,  but  the  whole  building  could  be  set 
into  the  great  reading  room  of  the  New  York  Public 
Library  with  space  to  spare. 

New  York  has  forty-four  handsome  and  specially 
planned  branch  buildings  costing  an  average  of  $100,000 
apiece,  provided  by  Andrew  Carnegie.  Chicago  has  two 
real  branch  buildings  —  both  gifts  —  and  forty-three  so- 
called  branches  in  rented  stores,  single  rooms  given  free 
in  parks  and  schoolhouses  and  similar  humble  makeshifts. 
Thp  total  money  invested  for  public  library  buildings  in 
Chicago  is  slightly  in  excess  of  $2,000,000.  In  New 
York  it  is  easily  eight  times  that  amount. 

The  total  number  of  agencies  through  which  Chicago 
people  may  draw  books  is  1,239.  Some  of  these  are 
small  —  such  as  deposits  of  fifty  books  in  schoolrooms 
and  one  of  the  most  effective  forms  is  the  deposit  placed 
in  a  large  business  house  or  factory  for  use  of  the  em- 
ployes. 

Intangible  elements,  after  all,  really  make  the  tone  and 
character  of  a  public  library,  as  of  any  other  institution. 

The  Newberry  Library,  under  the  watchful  and  very 
efficient  care  of  its  librarian,  William  N.  C.  Carlton,  is 
a  model  of  pleasant  hospitality  —  a  convenient  place  and 
inviting  at  all  times  to  the  public.  The  Newberry  Library 
is  a  research  laboratory  for  investigators  in  history  and 
literature  in  the  same  way  that  the  Rockefeller  Institute 
is  a  research  institution  for  its  special  field.  This  fact 
must  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  in  order  to  correctly 
estimate  the  value  of  the  institution,  as  the  application 
of  any  quantitative  standard  of  measurement  is  wholly 

279 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

inadequate.  Such  a  research  institution  should  be  tested 
and  appraised  by  the  importance  and  seriousness  of 
the  inquiries  it  answers ;  by  the  degree  of  expert  aid  it 
gives  to  purposeful  investigators,  by  the  permanent  value 
of  the  printed  and  other  source  material  it  acquires,  and 
by  the  means  it  takes  to  make  its  resources  known  to 
those  most  needing  them.  Judged  by  this  test,  the  New- 
berry Library  is  one  of  the  first  institutions  in  the  United 
States.  A  glance  at  its  catalogues,  a  survey  of  its  treas- 
ure rooms,  a  test  of  the  personal  service  which  its  staff 
can  render  the  student  or  reader  and  an  examination  of 
the  publications  it  has  issued  revealing  its  resources  — 
all  prove  the  truth  of  these  things. 

The  Newberry  Library  was  founded  in  1887  from  a 
bequest  by  Walter  Loomis  Newberry.  Since  that  time 
three-quarters  of  a  million  dollars  have  been  expended 
in  the  purchase  of  books,  periodicals,  and  fittings  for  the 
library.  Aside  from  the  revenue  of  the  original  founda- 
tion, the  library  has  grown  by  the  splendid  donation  of 
the  Edward  E.  Ayer  collection,  numbering  over  33,000 
books,  pamphlets,  manuscripts,  etc.  The  total  number 
of  volumes  in  the  library  is  370,831. 

Its  principal  fields  of  knowledge  and  branches  of  learn- 
ing are :  Bibliography  and  the  History  of  Printing, 
Religion  and  Theology,  Philosophy,  Psychology  and 
Ethics,  History,  Political  Science,  Geography,  Biography, 
Languages,  Music,  Literature,  and  (in  part)  Fine  Arts. 
In  each  of  these  divisions  the  library  possesses  many 
treasures  —  books  of  interest  and  value  for  all  times. 

The  presence  in  or  near  Chicago  of  certain  important 
institutions  of  learning,  practice,  and  research  (the  Uni- 

280 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

versity  of  Chicago,  Northwestern  University,  the  Mc- 
Cormick  Theological  Seminary,  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society,  the  Art  Institute  and  its  clientele,  the  Chicago 
Orchestra  and  its  clientele,  and  the  numerous  other  or- 
ganizations) naturally  enlists  the  Newberry  Library  for 
cooperation  and  mutual  service. 

Special  facilities  are  given  to  scholars  coming  from  a 
distance  as  well  as  to  local  professors  and  students.  Any 
measure  likely  to  be  of  assistance  to  the  scholar  in  saving 
unnecessary  labor,  economizing  his  time  and  aiding  him 
in  his  work,  can  be  instituted  at  a  moment's  notice  and 
to  fit  an  individual  case.  A  professor  who  wishes  to 
instruct  a  small  seminary  class  of  students  in  a  subject 
in  which  this  library  is  strong  can  be  accommodated  with 
a  suitable  room  and  the  necessary  equipment  for  meeting 
his  class.  The  material  they  wish  to  consult  together  can 
be  brought  directly  to  them  whether  it  is  ten  volumes  or 
five  hundred. 

The  presence  in  Chicago  of  the  collections  which  it  has 
been  the  policy  of  the  Newberry  Library  to  acquire  gives 
prestige  to  the  city  and  its  cultural  side  and  attracts  to 
it,  either  for  temporary  residence  or  through  acceptance 
of  positions  on  the  faculties  of  local  universities,  scholars 
of  distinction  who  might  otherwise  not  come  to  Chicago 
at  all.  A  well-known  professor  of  literature  in  a  Chi- 
cago institution  received  a  flattering  offer  of  a  chair  in 
a  university  in  another  part  of  the  country  at  an  increased 
salary.  He  declined  the  offer  principally  because  the 
libraries  of  the  other  university  and  the  city  in  which  it 
is  located  did  not  possess  book  collections  of  sufficient 
value  and  completeness  to  enable  him  to  pursue  the  inves- 

281 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

tigations  which  have  largely  given  him  the  standing  and 
repute  which  he  enjoys  in  his  profession.  The  Newberry 
Library  does  give  him  these  facilities  and  Chicago  is  there- 
fore a  more  attractive  place  for  him  and  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  city  is  better  for  his  presence  in  it.  The  con- 
clusion is  that,  through  its  provision  of  the  type  of  books 
in  which  it  specializes,  the  value  of  already  acquired  spe- 
cial collections,  and  the  gradual  upbuilding  of  others 
equally  distinguished,  the  Newberry  Library  is  perform- 
ing a  service  of  immeasurable  educational,  intellectual, 
and  social  value  to  Chicago  and  the  surrounding  territory. 

For  the  pupils  of  the  elementary  schools,  the  under- 
graduates in  the  Chicago  colleges  and  the  men  and  women 
Vv'ho,  while  working  during  the  daytime,  desire  to  study 
and  keep  abreast  of  the  times  through  evening  reading, 
the  books  and  servicesof  the  staff  are  equally  available.  In 
the  course  of  a  year  thousands  of  such  persons  work  in 
the  Newberry  rooms  regularly  and  avail  themselves  of 
its  opportunities. 

A  special  feature  of  the  Newberry  Library  policy  is 
the  assembling  regularly  of  special  exhibitions  made  up 
of  books,  prints,  maps,  and  other  pictorial  material  illus- 
trative or  descriptive  of  some  literary,  historical,  or  artis- 
tic topic.  The  subject  matter  may  be  of  immediate 
contemporary  interest  or  it  may  refer  to  men  and  events 
of  long  past  periods.  The  main  point  is  that  the  New- 
berry Library  supplements  book  study  and  reading  by 
the  presentation  of  material  in  pictorial  form.  It  works 
on  the  theory  that,  if  it  waited  for  the  public  to  ask  it 
for  its  material,  most  of  it  would  never  be  called  for.  It 
is  brought  to  their  attention  as  sharply  and  as  attractively 

282 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

as  possible,  thus  creating  continual  interest.  Noteworthy 
is  the  collection  of  materials  for  the  study  of  the  English 
drama.  A  special  reference  bulletin  of  tlie  contents  of 
this  feature  is  published. 

A  range  of  the  exhibitions,  throughout  various  years, 
may  be  had  from  a  single  bulletin  which  has  included 
East  Indian  manuscripts,  books,  and  maps  illustrating  the 
voyages  and  discoveries  of  Henry  Hudson,  early  editions 
of  the  letters  and  books  relating  to  the  discovery  of 
America  by  Christopher  Columbus,  Italian  and  Spanish 
manuscripts,  French  and  English  book  bindings,  musical 
books  and  manuscripts,  and  books  and  photographs  by 
Dr.  Jose  Rizal  of  the  Philippines.  The  list  is  too  long 
to  reprint  but  this  will  suffice. 

The  librai-y  contains  the  extraordinary  Americana  se- 
cured by  Mr.  Edward  E.  Ayer.  This  is  the  most  com- 
plete collection  in  existence  of  literature  relating  to  the 
Indians  of  North  America.  The  section  contains  narra- 
tives and  experiences  of  many  captives  among  the  Indians 
that  are  of  special  interest  to  students  of  American  his- 
tory, as  they  give  data  of  sufficient  importance  to  picture 
the  conditions  under  which  the  early  explorers  and  pio- 
neers settled,  lived,  and  labored  while  ceaselessly  pushing 
forward  the  boundaries  of  the  frontier.  It  contains  over 
three  hundred  titles  of  individual  editions. 

Another  great  Chicago  library  conducted  on  similar 
lines  is  the  John  Crerar  Library.  It  devotes  itself  espe- 
cially to  the  field  of  science.  The  branches  of  materia 
medica,  law,  and  engineering  particularly  feel  the  touch 
of  its  influence  and  research. 

The  Crerar  Library,  the  youngest  of  the  free  public 

283 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

libraries  of  Chicago,  was  established  by  a  bequest  of  the 
late  John  Crerar,  a  prominent  merchant  of  the  city,  in 
1894.  Mr.  Crerar  had  no  near  relatives  and  left  $6,000,- 
000  in  personal  bequests,  nearly  $1,000,000  to  some  of 
the  charities  of  the  city  and  the  remainder  of  his  estate, 
then  valued  at  not  quite  $2,500,000,  to  the  library.  Im- 
provements in  business  conditions  materially  increased 
this  sum  to  a  total  of  about  $3,500,000.  The  board  of 
directors  designated  by  Mr.  Crerar  decided  immediately 
after  the  organization  that  the  endowment  should  not 
be  encroached  upon  and  that  a  building  fund  for  the 
erection  of  a  permanent  home  for  the  library  should  be 
accumulated  from  the  income.  The  fund  in  January, 
1 9 18,  amounted  to  $1,260,543.38.  Part  was  expended 
for  a  site  and  the  balance  should  be  sufficient  for  the 
erection  of  an  adequate  building.  The  site  chosen  is  on 
Michigan  Avenue  immediately  north  of  the  Chicago 
Public  Library.  The  position  is  especially  convenient 
for  business  men  and  physicians.  This  will  be  a  splendid 
addition  to  the  widened  and  elevated  thoroughfare  which, 
under  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  is  to  become  one  of  the  most 
impressive  and  beautiful  streets  in  the  world. 

The  Chicago  Public  Library  had  previously  been  estab- 
lished as  a  great  lending  library  and  the  Newberry 
Library  was  being  developed  as  a  reference  library.  The 
great  field  left  open  to  the  newly  created  library,  there- 
fore, was  that  of  science.  Accordingly,  the  directors 
decided  to  establish  a  free  public  library  of  scientific  and 
technical  literature,  thus  rounding  out  in  an  effective  way 
the  library  field  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  Its  special  scope 
is  natural,  physical,  and  social  sciences  and  their  appli- 

284 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

cations.  The  books  are  divided  into  six  classes  —  general 
works,  social  sciences,  physical  sciences,  natural  sciences,' 
medical  sciences,  and  applied  sciences.  The  last-named 
class  includes  the  applied  fine  arts,  but  not  music,  sculp- 
ture, or  painting.  With  the  exception  of  theology  and 
philology,  all  subjects  comprehended  by  a  broad  interpre- 
tation of  its  field  are  to  be  found  in  the  library. 

It  contains  four  special  collections  —  the  Senn  col- 
lection of  medical  books,  some  10,000  volumes  and  15,000 
pamphlets ;  the  Huntington  V.  Jackson  collection  on  con- 
stitutional law,  nearly  600  titles ;  the  Henry  Cradle  me- 
morial collection  on  medicine;  and  the  Octave  Chanute 
collection  on  aviation. 

Several  notable  purchases  have  been  made  of  which 
the  Cerritsen  collection  is  the  largest  and  most  important. 
It  contains  18,000  volumes  and  15,000  pamphlets  on 
social  and  economic  subjects,  being  especially  full  on 
finance,  banking,  labor,  and  Socialism.  It  includes  a 
distinct  collection  of  nearly  6,000  volumes  and  pamphlets 
on  the  social,  political,  and  legal  status  of  women. 

Other  noteworthy  purchases  are:  some  300  volumes 
on  ornithology  bought  of  the  Newberry  Library  in  1898; 
the  private  library  of  Professor  R.  T.  Ely,  consisting  of 
6,000  volumes  and  4,000  pamphlets,  mostly  on  Amer- 
ican labor  and  social  movements ;  the  collection  of  8,000 
volumes  and  4,000  pamphlets  on  gynecology  and  obstet- 
rics made  by  the  late  Dr.  Edward  Martin  and  his  son, 
Dr.  August  Martin;  about  1,000  volumes,  1,000  pam- 
phlets, and  460  maps  on  physical  geography,  the  library 
of  the  late  Dr.  Karl  Ehrenburg  of  Wurzburg,  and  con- 
siderable purchases   at  auction   of   mathematical  books 

285 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

from  the  libraries  of  Boncompagni  and  Bierens  de  Haan 
and  of  zoological  books  from  that  of  Milne-Edwards. 

The  Crerar  Librar)%  in  1918,  had  373,356  volmnes  and 
more  than  146,000  pamphlets  and  several  thousand  maps 
and  plates.  It  is  a  good  working  collection  elaborately 
equipped  in  certain  fields.  Besides  thousands  of  current 
periodicals,  the  library  receives  some  13,270  other  con- 
tinuations, such  as  annual  reports  and  parts  of  books 
issued  serially,  which  are  placed  for  public  use  as  soon 
as  received.  Its  bound  volumes  in  each  department  in  ^ 
June,  1918,  were:  social  science,  103,035;  physical  sci- 
ence, 30,345 ;  natural  science,  37,079 ;  medical  science, 
71,869;  applied  science,  77,795;  general  works,  53,233. 
The  total  income  was  $235,000,  of  which  $41,000  was 
set  aside  for  the  building  fund  and  $33,000  for  the  in- 
crease of  the  library. 

It  is  evident  that  such  a  library  would  attract  readers 
in  search  of  information  rather  than  of  recreation. 
While  engineers  and  physicians  are  the  largest  two 
classes,  chemists  and  teachers  rank  next  and  business  men 
in  search  of  business  information,  technical  chemists, 
machinists  and  many  other  skilled  laborers,  workers  in 
social  and  political  movements,  normal  and  high  school 
teachers  and  their  students  form  considerable  elements. 

In  the  Great  War  the  Crerar  Library  did  more  than 
a  little.  It  purchased  regularly  and  promptly  the  tech- 
nical books  needed  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  student 
officers  and  of  others  interested  in  the  necessities  of  the 
country.  Among  these  it  laid  great  stress  on  military 
medicine  and  surgery  and  prepared  and  published  a  select 
list  of  these  books,  which  it  distributed  to  the  thirty- 

286 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

five  camp  libraries,  and  prepared  to  duplicate  such  of 
them  as  were  needed  for  loans  to  these  libraries,  It  fur- 
nished to  United  States  officials  and  others  bibliographies 
on  subjects  connected  with  the  war  and  has  made  many 
loans  of  books  of  this  character.  It  furnished  a  librarian 
for  the  camp  library  at  the  Great  Lakes  Training  Station 
and  has  appropriated  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  pur- 
pose. 

Altogether  Chicago  is  well  furnished  with  the  sort  of 
libraries  which  are  calculated  to  stabilize  and  round  out 
the  general  knowledge  of  the  city  and  to  perfect  it  in 
special  fields.  More,  it  is  perfectly  obvious,  from  a  study 
of  its  truly  splendid  libraries,  that  Chicago  is  the  logical 
center  of  useful  knowledge  and  research  of  a  vast  inland 
territory.  Fifty-three  million  people  live  within  a  night's 
ride  of  Chicago.  Its  library  facilities  are  their  advan- 
tage. 

It  is  not  a  mere  coincidence  that,  in  a  city  of  such 
exceptional  library  opportunities,  there  should  be  closely 
interlinked  with  them  a  historical  society  so  superior 
as  to  be  at  once  historical  library,  museum,  and  general 
custodian  of  the  community's  store  of  past  achievements, 
recorded  and  preserved  to  be  dug  up  by  those  who  are  the 
logical  persons  to  perpetuate  knowledge  of  its  history. 

The  Chicago  Historical  Society  was  established  in 
1856.  Its  objects  are:  to  institute  and  encourage  his- 
torical inquiry,  to  collect  and  preserve  the  materials  of 
history,  and  to  spread  historical  information  concerning 
the  northwestern  states,  particularly  Illinois.  The  society 
has  always  had  the  support  of  a  number  of  the  most  rep- 
resentative  and   public-spirited   men   of   Chicago,   both 

287 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

financially  and  in  the  direction  of  its  affairs.  Its  libra- 
rian, Miss  Caroline  M.  Mcllvaine,  is  a  real  educational 
asset  to  Chicago. 

The  society  has  been  an  effective  "melting  pot"  for 
Americanization  in  Chicago,  where  five-eighths  of  the 
citizens  are  either  foreign  born  or  of  direct  foreign  de- 
scent. This  excellent  and  far-reaching  work  of  patriotism 
is  a  feature  of  a  number  of  Chicago's  public  institutions. 

During  the  past  decade  the  Chicago  Historical  Soci- 
ety, feeling  the  city's  need  of  aid  in  assimilating  its  vari- 
ous foreign  populations,  has  gradually  focused  many  of 
its  activities  upon  the  cultivation  of  civic  and  national 
consciousness,  love  of  country,  and  patriotism.  This 
movement  has  logically  developed  from  the  seed  sown 
in  the  preceding  half  century  when  the  main  effort  was 
the  collection  of  materials  for  the  history  of  the  old 
Northwest,  particularly  Chicago.  All  honor  is  due  to 
the  cultured  and  enterprising  gentlemen  —  sturdy  pio- 
neers—  who  laid  the  foundations  for  this  development 
at  a  time  when  men  of  lesser  vision  would  have  had  an 
eye  only  for  their  own  fortunes.  But  the  struggle  to 
have  a  historical  society  did  not  end  with  its  founding, 
for  it  is  only  because  of  the  indomitable  determination 
of  successive  groups  of  Chicago  professional  men  and 
men  of  affairs  that  the  society  has  been  brought  through 
the  panic  of  1857,  the  Civil  War,  the  great  fire  of  1871, 
the  fire  of  1874,  and  the  depression  following  the  World's 
Fair.  As  with  the  city  itself,  its  prestige  has  only  been 
heightened  by  the  vicissitudes  that  would  have  demolished 
an  ideal  less  firmly  fixed  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.. 

An  attempt  to  list  those  who  in  1856  founded  and  have 

288 


llic  new  Jului  Lrcictr  LlLiarv  lo  be  erected  on  the  remarkable  new 
Michigan  Avenue  extension. 


.^^*- 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

since  maintained  this  institution  would  result  in  naming 
almost  every  public-spirited  man  and  woman  who  has 
aided  prominently  the  commercial,  artistic,  and  literary 
growth  of  Chicago  for  three  generations.  Theirs  are 
the  names  of  Chicago's  streets,  schools,  and  institutions. 
It  is  a  significant  fact  that,  of  the  nineteen  original  incor- 
porators of  the  society,  in  1857,  all  but  two  had  voted 
in  the  first  city  election  in  1837  —  William  Butler  Ogden, 
one  of  these  incorporators,  being  elected  for  the  first  year. 
Threads  as  closely  interwoven  as  those  of  the  city  and 
society  make  a  fabric  that  is  not  easily  rent. 

That  this  relation  has  not  been  more  reinforced  in 
recent  years  is,  in  light  of  the  Great  War,  to  be  regretted. 
While  it  is  true  that  the  Historical  Society  is  an  almost 
perfect  mirror  of  the  early  city  down  to  the  time  of  the 
fire  of  1871,  the  rapid  strides  of  the  city  after  that  time 
have  left  it  far  behind.  Possibly  this  has  its  fortunate 
side  for,  unencumbered  with  the  impediments  of  the  city's 
recent  growth,  the  society  has  been  free  to  specialize  upon 
the  earlier  periods  so  that,  even  in  its  little  building,  every 
decade  up  to  the  eighties  is  now  more  or  less  visualized 
by  models  of  fortifications,  Indian  relics,  and  costumes  of 
the  frontier  days  and  reminders  of  civic  progress,  such 
as  the  wooden  water  pipes  of  the  forties,  wooden  paving 
i  blocks  of  the  fifties,  and  an  almost  endless  array  of  early 
I  prints  and  photographs  illustrating  the  advance  of  a  great 
center  from  an  Indian  trading  post. 
j  In  contrast  with  the  museums  of  the  great  foreign 
cities  —  London,  Paris,  and  Berlin  —  each  in  itself  is 
|a  vast  articulated  museum  where  every  branch  of  human 
(knowledge  has  at  least  one  institution  devoted  to  its  ex- 

289 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

emplification  —  the  Chicago  Historical  Society  serves  to 
conserve  the  archives  of  all  the  arts  insofar  as  they  touch 
the  beginning  civilization  of  America,  Illinois,  and  Chi- 
cago. It  must  be  remembered  that,  from  the  discovery 
of  this  region  by  Joliet  and  Marquette,  to  the  present  is 
a  short  two  centuries  and  a  half,  lengthened  to  three  cen- 
turies by  the  inclusion  of  aboriginal  history. 

The  library  of  the  society,  numbering  50,000  volumes, 
contains,  besides  the  Jesuit  Relations  and  other  printed 
works  on  the  history  of  the  Central  West,  some  20,000 
manuscripts  of  the  governors  of  New  France,  the  explor- 
ers of  the  Mississippi  Valley — La  Salle,  Tonti,  and  their 
followers  of  the  French  regime;  the  British  governors 
of  Illinois,  the  Revolutionary  hero,  George  Rogers  Clark, 
and  his  civil  successor,  John  Todd,  the  papers  of  Ninian 
Edwards,  territorial  governor,  and  signatures  of  the 
governors  and  statesmen  of  Illinois  from  Shadrach  down 
to  Governor  Lowden.  To  these  are  added  letters  and 
journals  of  Chicago  and  Illinois  early  settlers  —  a  great 
treasury  of  the  materials  for  history  and  one  that  is  con- 
stantly drawn  upon  by  historical  wTiters  in  search  of 
original  sources.  Probably  no  historical  society  in  the 
country  has  as  large  a  collection  of  Lincolniana  as  has 
the  Chicago  society,  and  this  is,  of  course,  a  mecca  for 
Lincoln  lovers  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 

The  series  of  collections  published  by  the  society  are: 
History  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Edwards  County, 
Illinois,  by  George  Flower ;  Biographical  Sketch  of  Enoch 
Long,  an  Illinois  Pioneer,  by  Harvey  Reid ;  The  Edivards 
Papers,  edited  by  Elihu  B.  Washburne;  Early  Chicago 
and  Illinois,  edited  by  Edward  Gay  Mason;  The  Settle- 

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OTHER  INFLUENCES 

ment  of  Illinois,  by  Arthur  Clinton  Boggess;  The  Diary 
of  James  K.  Polk  During  His  Presidency,  1845  to  184P, 
edited  by  Milo  Milton  Qiiaife;  The  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal,  by  J.  W.  Putnam. 

The  society  has  also  published  more  than  fifty  papers 
on  historical  subjects  presented  at  its  meetings  by  some 
of  the  best-known  historical  scholars  of  the  country. 

Lectures  and  addresses  on  American  history  are  given 
frequently  during  the  winter  months,  as  well  as  notable 
social  affairs.  Many  people  consider  the  annual  reception 
and  tea  one  of  the  most  important  events  of  the  Chicago 
season. 

In  the  Old  World,  most  nearly  corresponding  to  the 
objective  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society  on  the  mu- 
seum side  is,  in  London,  Guild  Hall  Museum,  that  fa- 
mous palace  of  civic  antiques  made  familiar  to  all  Ameri- 
cans by  the  address  there  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  on  his 
trip  through  the  Old  World  when  he  retired  from  the 
presidency.  Another  similar  museum  in  London  is  the 
United  Service  Museum  where  are  the  national  trophies 
from  the  earliest  times  of  the  empire;  in  Paris,  the 
Musee  Historique  in  the  Hotel  des  Invalides  and  the 
Musee  Carnavalet  in  the  Hotel  de  Sevigne. 

Differing  only  in  degree,  the  Chicago  Historical  So- 
ciety performs  the  same  service  for  Chicago  that  West- 
minster Abbey  does  for  Britain,  namely,  to  afford  a 
place  of  commemoration  for  the  statesmen,  heroes,  and 
citizens  whom  the  city  delights  to  honor.  The  Chicago 
society  has  formed  a  miniature  Valhalla  by  dedicating 
its  assembly  room  named  for  its  donor,  "John  Crerar 
Hall,"  to  the  memory  of  the  benefactors  of  the  city  who 

291 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

have  been  members  of  the  society,  placing  there  such 
oil  paintings,  tablets,  and  sculptured  portraits  as  through 
the  years  have  been  presented  by  the  relatives  of  these 
members.  There,  side  by  side,  are  the  Ogdens,  Hub- 
bards,  Kinzies,  Beaubiens,  Wentworths,  Newberrys, 
Hamiltons,  Arnolds,  Sheldons,  Scammons,  Fullertons, 
Washburns,  Burleys,  Carpenters,  Skinners,  Manierres, 
Calhouns,  Boones,  Joneses,  Rices,  Farwells,  Blairs,  Laf- 
lins,  Kerfoots,  and  many  others. 

The  most  conspicuous  difference  between  foreign  and 
American  historical  museums  is  perhaps  that,  in  the 
former,  the  physical  relics  of  history  are  greatly  out- 
numbered by  paintings  of  historic  scenes  and  person- 
ages. Thus  every  palace  and  every  art  gallery  is  at 
the  same  time  a  museum  of  history.  Too  few  galleries 
in  America  can  boast  portraits  of  American  patriots 
or  paintings  of  historic  scenes.  The  Charles  F.  Gunther 
collection  in  this  city  is  exceptional  in  this  respect. 
Plainly  patrons  of  patriotic  art  are  needed.  In  mon- 
archies they  do  this  better. 

The  Chicago  Historical  Society's  gallery  of  American 
heroes  boasts  a  number  of  paintings  of  the  country's 
great  men,  but  the  need  of  artistic  representation  of 
historic  episodes  is  sadly  felt.  The  hope  of  significant 
mural  decorations  on  the  walls  of  the  society's  building 
has  never  been  realized. 

Another  mission  of  the  society,  which  only  lack  of 
funds  has  kept  in  abeyance,  is  the  marking,  by  tablet 
and  monument,  of  sites  about  the  city  significant  in  the 
lives  of  our  early  citizens,  and  also  in  the  early  de- 
velopment of   Chicago,   but   much  has   been   done   in 

292 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

the  way  of  preventing  their  names  from  being  banished 
from  our  street  nomenclature. 

In  Boston  one  cannot  go  far  in  any  direction  with- 
out finding  historical  markers,  sometimes  a  monument, 
more  often  a  memorial  tablet  sunk  into  a  wall.  Lord 
Rosebery,  in  a  speech  when  unveiling  a  tablet  in  Ma- 
cauley's  home,  said:  "I  ask  anybody  who  is  in  the 
habit  of  taking  long  walks  in  London  or  in  other  cities 
whether  it  is  not  an  immense  relief  to  come  to  some 
tablet  which  suggests  a  new  train  of  thought,  which  re- 
calls to  mind  the  career  af  some  distinguished  person 
and  which  takes  off  the  intolerable  pressure  of  the  mo- 
notony of  endless  streets," 

A  few  historic  sites  have  been  marked  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  notably  the 
site  of  Fort  Dearborn ;  of  the  Chicago  massacre ;  the 
home  of  John  Kinzie;  the  grave  of  David  Kennison, 
the  last  survivor  of  the  Boston  Tea  Party ;  and  the  start- 
ing point  of  the  Chicago  fire.  Many  more  sites  have 
been  identified  and  recommended  for  marking. 

The  growing  conviction  that  the  place  to  begin  build- 
ing for  good  citizenship  is  with  the  children  has  led 
the  society  to  adapt  to  the  youthful  understanding  its 
library,  three  exhibition  floors  and  certain  lecture  courses, 
with  the  result  that  all  of  these  interest  adults  as  well 
as  children  and  have  been  recognized  as  valuable  cul- 
tural forces  in  Chicago  from  the  sociological  as  well  as 
really  educational  standpoints.  Following  the  idea  of 
teaching  the  Plan  of  Chicago  in  the  schools,  children 
are  being  taught  many  branches  of  good  citizenship  in 
other  public  institutions.     Chicago  is  the  pioneer  city 

293 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

and  the  premier  city  of  America  to  start  training  chil- 
dren, along  far-reaching  lines,  to  become  future  respon- 
sible heads  of  government  control. 

Each  Saturday  the  building  of  the  Historical  Society 
is  filled  with  orderly  children  delegated  by  their  school 
classes  to  attend  the  course  of  lectures  for  children  on 
Chicago  history.  On  patriotic  anniversaries,  not  only 
children,  but  parents  and  groups  of  foreign-speaking 
people  from  the  settlements  visit  the  building,  the  latter 
often  expressing  astonishment  that  there  are  any  antiq- 
uities in  Chicago,  but  showing  a  more  reverent  interest 
in  the  portraits  and  mementos  of  Washington  and  Lin- 
coln than  do  many  visitors  of  native  birth. 

The  Great  War  was  illustrated  in  the  society's  collec- 
tion by  posters  of  the  Army,  Navy,  and  Red  Cross,  by 
bulletin  board  for  newspaper  information  about  Chicago 
men  in  service  and  a  display  case  where  are  shown  let- 
ters, pieces  of  ordnance,  and  other  relics  that  reached 
it  from  the  Front. 

Encouraged  by  the  practical  results  of  this  teaching 
of  patriotism,  the  Historical  Society  tendered  to  the 
Committee  on  Public  Information  and  the  National  and 
Local  Service  Committee  every  facility  it  could  muster 
to  aid  in  the  propaganda  of  patriotism.  Cooperating 
with  the  Illinois  Centennial  Commission,  the  society 
transferred  many  of  its  most  precious  collections,  includ- 
ing the  exhibit  of  "  I^ags  and  Trophies  of  Seven  Wars," 
to  Orchestra  Hall  on  the  occasion  of  the  opening  of 
the  celebration  of  the  Centennial  of  Illinois  Statehood 
in  1918. 

Remoteness  from  the  civic  center  is  not  the  only  han- 

294 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

dicap  to  progress  suffered  by  the  Historical  Society. 
Year  by  year,  as  the  collections  grow  larger  through  the 
generosity  of  Chicagb  patrons,  the  exhibits  become  more 
congested  and  detract  from  the  dignity  of  value  and 
effectiveness  of  one  another.  Indeed  it  has  been  nec- 
cessary  to  decline  certain  gifts  tendered  because  of 
inadequate  storage  space.  Administration  under  these 
conditions  is  increasingly  difficult  and  the  development 
of  the  possibilities  of  the  society  is  being  checked  for, 
with  a  larger  building  more  conveniently  located,  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society  might  become  the  greatest 
historical  museum  in  this  country,  for  it  is  strongly 
probable  that  a  collection  several  times  as  extensive  as 
its  present  one  would  be  tendered  to  its  directors.  At 
the  time  of  this  writing  that  collection  is  in  eminent 
danger  of  being  scattered  for  want  of  adequate  housing. 
The  spirit  that  has  always  kept  Chicago  in  the  front 
rank  v^ill  in  some  way  save  this  situation  and  provide 
for  generations  to  come  a  more  valuable  legacy  than 
even  art  or  music  can  afford;  namely,  a  great  civic  his- 
torical museum  administered  by  this  society.  The  new 
north  e>itension  of  Michigan  Avenue  would  be  an  ideal 
location  for  a  new  building. 

While  the  Chicago  Historical  Society  is  maintained 
largely  by  the  dues  of  its  members  and  the  interest  of 
legacies,  its  value  as  a  public  service  institution  is  rec- 
ognized by  the  city  of  Chicago  in  its  exemption  from 
all  taxation.  Chicago  has  many  wealthy  men.  Here 
is  a  real  opportunity  for  some  one  of  them  to  match  the 
generosity  of  Marshall  Field  and  provide  permanently 
for  the  need  of  its  most  useful  educational  historical 

295 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

society.  There  should  be  organized  also  a  group  of 
wealthy  people  to  furnish  Chicago  with  branch  libraries 
on  the  plan  of  Carnegie  in  New  York.  The  Historical 
Society  could  designate  their  locations  in  some  instances 
and  mark  them  at  the  same  time  for  historical  spots. 

Miss  Mcllvaine  declares  the  greatest  contrast  between 
this  society  and  others  is  perhaps  that  it  specializes  in 
work  for  the  youth  —  the  chief  object  being  the  stimu- 
lation of  love  of  country. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  desirable  place  than 
Chicago  in  which  to  rear  children.  I  know  of  no  other 
city  where  the  minds  and  bodies  of  the  little  folk  receive 
so  much  attention.  How  much  this  means  to  the  future 
city  no  one  can  estimate.  The  school  textbook  taught 
in  Chicago  on  the  Plan,  of  Chicago  calls  attention  to  the 
recognized  need  of  bringing  out  in  the  children  of  our 
cities  a  sharp,  clear,  vivid  interest  in  those  cities,  in  their 
history,  in  their  growth,  in  their  present,  and  in  their 
future.  It  also  points  out  that  we  have  reached  a  time 
now  when  the  citizen,  to  do  his  duty,  must  plan  for  the 
welfare  of  coming  generations.  It  is  necessary  that  the 
people  realize,  and  that  the  young  be  taught,  that  the 
really  great  work  of  the  world  today  is  that  which  fore- 
sees and  builds  for  the  future. 

Specializing  on  the  teaching  of  art  and  music  in  the 
Chicago  public  schools;  the  remarkable  work  of  the 
Civic  Music  Association  in  carrying  music  to  the  chil- 
dren; the  groups  of  school  children  who  are  conducted 
about  the  city  on  journeys  of  inspection  to  great  indus- 
trial plants,  Chicago  Plan  improvements  and  other 
physical  objects;  the  protecting  of  the  city's  moral  at- 

296 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

mosphere  by  the  world's  most  effective  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work ; 
the  Sunday  Evening  Club;  the  numerous  social  settle- 
ment centers  more  thoroughly  organized  in  Chicago  than 
in  any  other  American  city;  the  world's  finest  and  best 
equipped  playgrounds  for  children ;  teaching  the  Plan  of 
Chicaga  in  the  schools  —  all  these  augur  for  a  city  for 
children,  a  city  some  day  to  be  incomparable  in  the  New 
or  Old  World  for  the  character  of  its  people  and  the 
beauty  of  its  surroundings. 

On  the  moral  side  of  the  question,  Chicago's  advan- 
tages are  clearly  demonstrated  in  that  New  York  has 
1,520  churches,  missions,  and  chapels.  Chicago  has 
about  1,200.  On  the  basis  of  population,  this  is  nearly 
twice  the  number  of  New  York. 

On  the  educational  side,  there  are  ten  colleges  and 
universities  in  New  York  and  339  public  schools.  Chi- 
cago has  seven  colleges  and  universities,  thirty  medical 
schools  and  306  public  schools.  On  the  basis  of  popu- 
lation, there  is  a  slight  advantage  on  the  number  of 
schools  for  Chicago  and  one-third  more  colleges  and 
universities. 

The  University  of  Chicago  includes  the  Graduate 
School  of  Arts  and  Literature,  the  Ogden  (Graduate) 
School  of  Science,  the  Colleges  (Senior  and  Junior) 
of  Arts,  Literature,  and  Science,  the  Divinity  School, 
the  Law  School,  Courses  in  Medicine,  the  School  of 
Education,  and  the  College  of  Commerce  and  Admin- 
istration. 

Though  the  university  is  maintained  primarily  for 
those  who  can  give  their  entire  time  to  academic  work, 
it  extends  many  privileges  to  the  general  public. 

297 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

The  libraries  of  the  university,  containing  about  624,- 
936  volumes  bound  and  catalogued,  besides  a  large 
amount  of  material  yet  uncatalogued,  include  the  general 
library,  department  libraries,  and  200,000  pamphlets. 

The  library  of  the  Law  School  contains  the  most  im- 
portant legal  collection  in  the  city,  consisting  of  over 
33,000  volumes  and  including  practically  all  the  reports 
and  statutes  in  the  English  language  and  a  considerable 
amount  of  material  in  foreign  languages.  The  library 
of  the  Divinity  School  is  a  comprehensive  theological 
library  and  includes  the  Heggstenberg  collection  and 
the  Colwell  library. 

Haskell  Oriental  Museum  contains  valuable  collec- 
tions illustrating  oriental  art  and  archaeology — chiefly 
that  of  Egypt,  Babylonia,  and  Japan.  The  Egyptian 
collection  is  especially  valuable,  embracing  nearly  one 
thousand  original  monuments,  either  written  or  material 
documents,  from  all  the  great  epochs  of  Eg^'ptian  history 
and  archaeology.  The  Walker  Museum  collections  are 
estimated  to  embrace  over  one  million  specimens  — 
mainly  rocks,  minerals,  fossils,  arcliaeological  objects, 
and  relief  maps. 

The  number  of  students  of  the  Chicago  University 
in  pre-war  times  exceeded  the  number  of  the  Wilhelm 
University  of  Berlin. 

The  Northwestern  University,  in  Chicago's  fashion- 
able suburb,  Evanston,  maintains  ten  departments  — 
among  them  the  College  of  Pharmacy,  Dental  School, 
School  of  Music,  School  of  Commerce,  School  of  Ora- 
tory, and  Evanston  Academy. 

The    School    of    Commerce   was   organized  in    1908 

298 


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OTHER  INFLUENCES 

through  the  cooperation  of  the  university  with  business 
men,  members  of  the  Association  of  Commerce,  the 
IlHnois  Society  of  Certified  Public  Accountants  and  the 
Industrial  Club  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Joseph  Schaffner  was 
largely  instrumental  in  bringing  about  this  cooperation. 
To  meet  the  needs  of  business  men  employed  during  the 
day,  courses  are  given  five  evenings  each  week.  The 
subjects  in  Avhich  instruction  are  given  include  —  ac- 
counting, business  law,  economics,  private  and  corpo- 
ration finance,  investments,  commercial  and  industrial 
organization,  management,  resources,  and  foreign  trade, 
business  psychology,  transportation,  insurance,  and  Eng- 
lish and  foreign  languages.  A  diploma  is  awarded  to 
students  who  have  completed  a  course  covering  four 
evenings  a  week  for  three  years.  A  three  year  day 
course  leading  to  the  degree  Bachelor  in  Business 
Administration  is  given  to  persons  who  can  devote  their 
full  time  to  study.  The  library  contains  a  total  of  i68,- 
8oi  volumes  and  134,973  pamphlets  (1917). 

The  library  of  the  Medical  School  contains  a  large 
number  of  reference  books,  dictionaries,  current  jour- 
nals, and  all  of  the  larger  systems  of  medicine  and  sur- 
gery—  over  20,000  volumes  in  all.  The  School  of 
Pharmacy  has  a  valuable  pharmaceutical  reference  li- 
brary of  2,500  bound  volumes  and  pamphlets.  All  the 
principal  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  journals  are  re- 
ceived and  on  file. 

The  Menges  Library  and  Reading  Room  of  the  Dental 
School,  named  in  honor  of  the  late  Theodore  Menges, 
contains  over  3,000  volumes  on  dental  and  collateral 
subjects,  a  large  supply  of  dictionaries  and  encyclopedias 

299 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

and  an  almost  complete  list  of  dental  journals  published 
in  the  English  language,  with  about  16,000  duplicates. 

The  museum  of  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  contains 
several  thousand  rare  and  valuable  specimens  and  is 
divided  into  the  following  sections  —  Anthropology, 
Botany,  Geology,  Mineralogy,  and  Zoology.  There  are 
also  museums  of  the  Medical  School,  the  School  of 
Pharmacy  and  the  Dental  School. 

.   Chicago  has  a  number  of  important  special  schools 
Unique  among  these  and  of  far-reaching  educational  in- 
fluence is  the  La  Salle  Extension  University. 

La  Salle  home  study  courses  are  known  the  world 
over.  Nearly  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  students 
have  enrolled  for  its  various  courses  since  the  University 
was  chartered  in  1909.  At  the  beginning  of  1919  there 
were  about  fifty  thousand  active  students,  of  which  nearly 
two  thousand  were  located  outside  the  continental  area 
of  the  United  States.  More  than  one  thousand  students 
have  enrolled  from  a  single  large  corporation  and  La 
Salle  trained  men  are  to  be  found  in  every  large  concern 
in  the  country. 

The  courses  of  study  are  planned  on  the  vocational  or 
professional  unit  plan.  Each  course  embraces  all  the 
subjects  necessary  for  a  complete  workable  training, 
which  prepares  men  and  women  vitally  for  the  practical 
responsibilities  of  their  chosen  vocation  or  work.  Special 
textbooks  and  teaching  methods  have  been  evolved  for 
this  form  of  educational  training.  Many  of  these  text- 
books have  been  widely  adopted  by  schools,  colleges  and 
universities  in  their  resident  courses  and  by  business  con- 
cerns in  their  company  classes. 

^00 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

Home  study  or  correspondence  courses  are  offered  in 
accounting,  law,  business  administration,  interstate  com- 
merce and  traffic,  banking  and  finance,  business  letter 
writing,  foreign  trade,  commercial  Spanish,  and  other 
vocational  courses.  Resident  evening  courses  are  given 
in  the  downtown  or  Loop  branch  of  the  school  for  those 
who  prefer  class-room  study. 

In  the  student  body  of  this  university  is  represented 
nearly  every  nationality,  race,  and  ethnological  group. 
The  whole  idea  of  this  adult  education  by  the  extension 
method  is  well  summarized  in  a  slogan  often  quoted  by 
the  university:  "When  a  man  stops  learning,  he  stops 
growing,  and  then  his  constructive  work  ceases." 

Every  large  city  is  more  or  less  well  equipped  with 
colleges  cind  special  schools.  Chicago  is  on  a  parity 
with  the  best  and  far  superior  to  most  first-rank  cities. 
To  cover  the  entire  field  would  be  a  task  too  great  for 
this  volume,  rather  it  has  seemed  desirable  to  go  more 
into  detail  in  the  specific  branches  of  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences which  are  of  interest  to  the  general  public  than 
to  cover  in  detail  the  educational  facilities  of  the  city 
principally  of  interest  to  the  student  class. 

Among  Chicago's  educational  institutions  of  note- 
worthy mention  is  The  Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences 
in  Lincoln  Park,  which  contains  about  250.000  speci- 
mens. It  is  noted  for  its  collection  of  local  natural 
history  specimens  and  for  the  complete  collection  of 
mollusks. 

The  Armour  Institute  of  Technology,  presided  over 
by  Chicago's  famous  preacher,  Dr.  Frank  W.  Gunsaulus, 
was  founded  in  1892  by  Philip  D.  Armour  of  Chicago. 

301 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

The  work  of  instruction  was  begun  in  September,  1893. 
The  aim  of  the  institution,  as  expressed  by  its  first  public 
announcement,  is: 

For  the  purpose  of  giving  to  young  men  an  oppor- 
tunity to  secure  a  liberal  education.  It  is  hoped  that  4ts 
benefits  may  reach  all  classes.  Its  aim  is  broadly  phil- 
anthropic. Realizing  profoundly  the  importance  of 
self-reliance  as  a  factor  in  the  development  of  character, 
the  founder  has  conditioned  his  benefactions  in  such  a 
way  as  to  emphasize  both  their  value  and  the  students' 
self-respect.  The  institution  is  not  a  free  school  but  its 
charges  for  instruction  are  in  harmony  with  the  spirit 
which  animates  alike  the  founder,  the  trustees,  and  the 
faculty,  namely,  the  desire  to  help  those  who  wish  to 
help  themselves. 

Loyola  University  is  under  the  direction  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Jesus.  Its  courses  are  open  to  students  of  any 
religious  denomination  and  to  men  and  women,  but  the 
undergraduate  college  and  high-school  courses  are  for 
male  students  only.  It  has  a  spacious  and  beautifully 
located  campus  on  the  north  shore. 

The  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy,  pre- 
sided over  by  Professor  Graham  Taylor,  one  of  Amer- 
ica's most  noted  social  authorities,  was  established  in 
1909.  It  has  become  a  center  in  the  new  profession  of 
social  service  and  for  the  development  of  a  more  general 
and  critical  interest  in  social  and  civic  conditions. 

The  Chicago  Hebrew  Institute  dates  back  to  1903. 
The  purpose  of  the  Institute  is  to  provide  a  social,  edu- 
cational, and  civic  center  for  the  native  American  as 
well  as  for  the  immigrant,  and  for  the  well-to-do  as  well 

302 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

as  for  the  needy  of  the  Chicago  community  without  any 
distinction  as  to  race,  color,  or  creed.  The  prevention 
rather  than  the  cure  of  social  evil  is  its  chief  aim.  The 
Jewish  Training  School  is  for  the  non-sectarian  educa- 
tion of  the  worthy  poor. 

The  School  of  Domestic  Science  and  Arts  was  estab- 
lished when  coeducational  work  was  abandoned  at 
Armour  Institute,  and  it  was  equipped  by  Mrs.  P.  D. 
Armour.  It  is  maintained  in  part  from  dues,  but  gifts 
and  endowment  funds  have  aided.  Classes  are  held  in 
cooking,  home  nursing,  hygiene,  household  economics, 
sewing,  dressmaking,  and  millinery.  It  maintains  regu- 
lar autumn,  winter,  and  spring  courses,  and  in  addition 
two  short  summer  courses.  Laboratories,  a  museum  of 
food  and  textile  products,  and  a  new  "  training  kitchen  " 
are  valuable  parts  of  its  equipment. 

Chicago  offers  an  exceptional  field  to  those  desiring 
to  pursue  a  course  of  law  studies.  It  is  said  that  there 
is  more  litigation  per  capita  in  Chicago  than  in  any  other 
city  in  the  United  States.  In  Chicago  are  located  the 
courts  of  the  city,  county,  state,  and  federal  governments, 
including  the  Federal  Circuit  of  Appeals  deciding  cases 
for  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin,  and  three  branches 
of  the  Illinois  Appellate  Court.  The  Chicago  Law  In- 
stitute (open  to  law  clerks  of  members)  having  a  library 
of  64,000  volumes,  and  the  library  of  the  Chicago  Bar 
Association,  as  well  as  the  libraries  of  the.  several  law 
schools,  furnish  students  access  to  all  leading  law  re- 
ports. Employment  during  the  day  for  students  taking 
night  law  courses  may  generally  be  obtained. 

The  Chicago  law  schools  include  the  Chicago  Kent 

303 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

College  of  Law,  Chicago  Law  School,  Illinois  College 
of  Law,  Law  Department  of  the  De  Paul  University, 
John  Marshall  Law  School,  Lincoln  College  of  Law, 
Northwestern  Law  School,  and  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago Law  School.  The  total  number  of  volumes  of  their 
combined  libraries  is  about  200,000. 

For  many  years  Chicago  has  had  the  reputation  of 
being  America's  most  popular  center  of  medical  edu- 
cation. The  number  of  students  studying  medicine  in 
the  city  of  Chicago  is  larger  than  in  any  other  American 
city.  One  of  the  reasons  for  this  popularity  is  the  group- 
ing of  teaching  hospitals  and  medicinal  colleges  around 
the  County  Hospital.  Here,  within  four  blocks,  are 
many  large  colleges  and  teaching  hospitals  and  the  stu- 
dents are  in  an  atmosphere  of  laboratories,  wards,  and 
clinics.  This  center  is  within  two  miles  of  the  down- 
town district. 

There  are  eighty-six  hospitals  in  Chicago  and  twenty- 
two  dispensaries. 

The  Chicago  medical  schools  include  the  Bennett  Med- 
ical College,  Chicago  College  of  Medicine  and  Surgery, 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  Rush  Medical  Col- 
lege, Hahnemann  Medical  College,  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity Medical  School,  Jenner  Medical  College,  Chicago 
Policlinic,  Chicago  Post  Gradu-ate,  Illinois  Post  Grad- 
uate Medical  School,  and  the  Chicago,  Eye,  Ear,  Nose, 
and  Throat  College. 

In  addition  to  these,  post-graduate  schools  of  medi- 
cine and  the  large  hospitals,  for  example,  IMercy  and 
Augustana,  maintain  public  clinics  each  day  in  the  year, 
to  which  come  thousands  of  physicians.     Besides  these 

304 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

medical  schools,  Chicago  has  institutions  for  teaching 
various  kinds  of  drugless  healing.  The  libraries  of  the 
medical  colleges  are  extensive.  Rush  Medical  College 
alone  has  nearly  25,000  volumes. 

Late  in  19 16  it  was  announced  that  the  General  Edu- 
cational Board  and  the  Rockefeller  Foundation  had  each 
appropriated  $1,000,000  for  the  establishment,  in  con- 
nection with  the  University  of  Chicago,  of  schools  of 
medicine  and  research  laboratories.  The  gifts  were 
conditional  on  the  raising  of  $3,300,000  additional.  Of 
this  amount  it  was  announced  that  $700,000  had  already 
been  pledged.  Rush  Medical  College  and  the  Presby- 
terian Hospital  are  to  be  a  part  of  the  new  medical  cen- 
ter. The  plans  call  for  the  best  teaching  forces  and 
equipment  available.  It  was  simultaneously  announced 
that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Julius  Rosenwald  of  Chicago  had 
subscribed  $500,000  for  the  new  medical  institution. 
Later  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  H.  Rawson  added  $300,000  to 
the  fund. 

The  theological  schools  of  Chicago  are  on  a  parity 
with  its  law  and  medical  schools.  The  most  noted  are 
the  Chicago  Theological  Seminary,  Garrett  Biblical  In- 
stitute, McCormick  Theological  Seminary,  St.  Viator's, 
Moody  Bible  Institute,  Theological  Seminary  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago Divinity  School,  and  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary.  These  schools  contain  some  notable  libra- 
ries. Their  combined  number  of  volumes  is  about 
175,000. 

There  are  few  schools  in  the  L'^nited  States  equipped 
with  courses  for  training  in  the  higher  grades  of  busi- 

305 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

ness.  The  dearth  of  men  properly  qualified  for  posi- 
tions of  large  responsibility  is  a  situation  which  con- 
fronts nearly  every  large  employer. 

Educational  Opportunities  in  Chicago  says : 

In  Germany  commercial  education  is  quite  advanced 
and  the  great  increase  in  German  trade  (before  the  war) 
and  commerce  is  due  largely  to  the  thoroughness  and  ex- 
cellence of  German  commercial  training.  England  is  also 
entering  the  commercial  educational  field  with  its  rapidly 
developing  system  of  evening  schools. 

In  Chicago  there  are  two  schools  of  this  class  —  one 
at  Northwestern  and  the  other  at  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago. Besides,  there  are  a  large  number  of  proprietary 
business  schools  which  give  training  in  bookkeeping, 
stenography,  typewriting,  commercial  arithmetic,  and 
business  law.  Supplemental  courses  are  also  given  in 
spelling,  and  English,  and  civil  government.  There  are 
a  dozen  or  more  important  schools  of  this  kind. 

Social  settlement  work  in  Chicago  is  thoroughly 
equipped  and  has  advanced  to  a  marked  degree.  The 
most  prominent  of  the  social  settlements  is  the  world- 
famed  Hull  House  of  which  the  head  resident  is  the 
equally  famed  Jane  Addams.  In  addition  to  teaching 
all  the  domestic  lines  and  certain  commercial  pursuits, 
Hull  House  includes  many  industrial  studies,  music  on 
no  mean  scale,  and  art  in  all  its  branches.  Several  li- 
braries are  connected  with  the  house  and  it  has  a  theater 
seating  250  people. 

An  almost  equally  famous  settlement  is  Abraham  Lin- 
coln Center,  the  head  of  which  was  the  late  Jenkin  Lloyd 

306 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

Jones.  It  serves  as  a  center  for  many  neighborhood 
activities.  Its  material  plant  has  cost  about  $200,000 
and  it  has  an  endowment  fund  of  $105,000.  Its  vari- 
ous activities  show  a  weekly  attendance  of  between  three 
thousand  and  four  thousand  individuals.  There  are 
twenty-nine  other  settlements,  each  a  more  or  less  unit 
of  completeness  and  usefulness.  Most  of  these  have 
good  libraries.  Gads  Hill,  Elm  Street,  Northwestern 
University  Settlement,  and  that  of  the  Chicago  Uni- 
versity, are  very  important. 

There  is  no  greater  world's  work  than  social  settle- 
ment work  and  closely  allied  with  that  is  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  and  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association. . 

Chicago,  with  its  thirty-seven  nationalities,  presents 
an  unusually  attractive  field  for  the  endeavor  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  The  Metropolitan 
Association  of  Chicago  is  said  by  impartial  observers 
to  stand  at  the  front  of  similar  organizations  in  the 
United  States,  if  not  of  the  entire  world. 

Figures  nor  bare  facts  can  typify  the  work  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Chicago.  Inci- 
dentally, however,  the  property  investment  of  the  Chi- 
cago association  is  $6,000,000  and  its  buildings  number 
fourteen.  The  buildings  are  situated  at  various  key- 
points  throughout  the  city  although  it  is  by  understand- 
ing that  a  dozen  unoccupied  spaces  remain  to  be  filled 
by  those  structures. 

The  association  has  branches  in  the  suburbs;  down- 
town; in  the  German,  Polish,  and  Norwegian  districts; 
in   the   manufacturing  and   mail-order  house   districts; 

307 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

in  the  outlying  districts ;  and  it  has  a  building  exclusively 
for  colored  men,  the  contribution,  in  a  large  measure,  of 
Chicago's  great  business  leader  and  philanthropist, 
Julius  Rosenwald. 

Probably  the  most  important  and  ambitious  new  de- 
partment is  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Hotel,  located  on  the  edge 
of  the  Loop  district.  This  hotel  has  1,821  rooms  with 
a  cost  to  guests  of  from  thirty  to  sixty  cents  a  night. 
It  is  the  only  hotel  of  its  kind  in  the  world  and  is  almost 
filled  to  capacity  nine  months  out  of  the  year.  This 
hotel  is  the  conception  of  L.  Wilbur  Messer,  general 
secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of 
Chicago,  who  years  ago  visualized  an  up-to-date  lodging- 
house  where  young  men  coming  from  the  country  into 
the  great  city  for  the  first  time,  instead  of  stumbling  into 
touch  with  the  underworld,  would  fall  into  good  hands, 
in  clean  surroundings,  and  in  an  atmosphere  cheerful 
and  uplifting.  While  not  a  religious  institution  in  any 
sense  of  the  word,  it  is  looked  upon  as  a  pioneer  of  its 
kind,  with  the  possibility  of  many  cities  in  this  country 
and  Europe  creating  similar  institutions. 

The  Chicago  Y.  M.  C.  A.  is  rising  to  every  emergency 
in  a  quiet,  careful,  and  conservative  way. 

The  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  occupies 
a  commodious  building  on  Michigan  Avenue  only  a  few 
blocks  south  of  the  leading  hotels  of  the  city.  Its  build- 
ing is  headquarters  for  committee  work  of  various  kinds. 
Five  Travelers'  Aid  workers  go  daily  to  the  various 
railway  stations  to  meet  and  aid  unprotected  young 
women  arriving  in  the  city. 

About  three  hundred  young  women  board  here.     Its 

308 


w 


y. 


u 


a^^^' 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

educational  department  has  classes  in  dressmaking,  mil- 
linery, manicuring,  and  hair  dressing,  business,  art,  cook- 
ing, gymnastics,  and  the  study  of  the  Bible.  These 
classes  are  practical  and  are  adapted  to  meet  the  needs 
of  busy  young  women. 

There  is  no  educational  medium  so  important  in  Chi- 
cago for  the  popular  masses  as  the  lecture  associations, 
^lost  of  the  300  public  schools  contain  assembly  halls 
and  many  of  the  newer  buildings  have  exceptionally  fine 
audience  rooms  seating  as  many  as  1,200  to  2,000  people. 
The  free  public  use  of  these  has  aided  wonderfully 
in  organizing  the  entire  city  into  units  of  community 
center  interest,  where  topics  of  the  day,  travels,  and 
many  other  subjects  of  general  interest  are  presented  in 
lecture  form. 

The  Chicago  Daily  News  for  sixteen  years  has  been 
giving  free  lectures  in  the  school  halls  in  all  parts  of  the 
city,  but  particularly  in  districts  remote  from  downtown 
attractions.  It  has  given  as  high  as  375  lectures  in  a 
single  school  year. 

The  Daily  A^ews  aims  to  make  its  lectures  of  the 
school  extension  sort,  awakening  new  trains  of  thought 
in  the  minds  of  busy  men  and  women,  and  aiding  per- 
sons of  foreign  birth  who  are  learning  the  language  and 
customs  of  this  country.  The  subjects  treated  are  of 
many  kinds,  including  new  discoveries  in  science,  topics 
from  American  history,  great  historical  events  in  other 
lands,  great  men  and  women  of  this  and  other  coun- 
tries; likewise  readings  from  the  poets,  particularly 
Shakespeare.  These  topics  are  all  well  illustrated  with 
stereopticon   pictures.      A   considerable   number   of   lec- 

309 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

turers  cooperate  in  this  work,  some  of  whom  travel 
widely  in  search  of  lecture  material. 

Another  important  lecture  bureau  is  that  of  the  Chi- 
cago Plan  Commission,  on  the  Plan  of  Chicago  and 
world  cities,  illustrated.  The  commission  has  spent 
thousands  of  dollars  perfecting  its  lecture.  It  covers 
all  the  great  cities  of  twenty-four  countries.  The  pictures 
are  by  the  best  lantern-slide  artists  and  the  lectures  are 
given  free  in  all  parts  of  the  city.  The  Chicago  Medical 
Society  has  a  Saturday  evening  course  on  health  and 
kindred  topics  putting  out  free  lectures  and  many 
speakers.  The  Chicago  Geographic  Society  gives  lec- 
tures, mostly  on  travel,  once  a  month  in  Fullerton  Hall 
in  the  Art  Institute.  The  Alliance  Frangaise  is  an  inter- 
national association  for  the  propagation  of  the  French 
language  and  the  establishment  of  closer  relations 
between  France  and  other  countries.  It  gives  free  public 
lectures  and  readings  in  Fullerton  Hall  on  alternate 
Saturdays.  Many  clubs  and  societies,  especially  women's 
organizations,  provide  for  lectures  at  their  regular  meet- 
ings throughout  the  year.  These  are  always  on  edu- 
cational and  civic  subjects  of  the  widest,  best,  and  world- 
wide scope. 

The  City  Club  of  Chicago  is  also  an  educational  force 
effective  in  its  influence  upon  the  life  of  Chicago,  and 
far-reaching  in  its  scope  of  subjects  relating  to  local 
investigations  and  improvements.  It  has  a  well-equipped 
library  and  a  fine  clubhouse.  It  also  maintains  a  free 
lecture  bureau  and  furnishes  speakers  on  civic  subjects. 

The  Women's  City  Club  ,aims  to  bring  together 
women   interested   in  the  city's  welfare.     The  club   is 

310 


OTHER  INFLUENCES 

organized  for  civic  and  community  work  in  ward  organ- 
izations which  interest  themselves  in  cleanHness  of 
streets,  vacant  lots  and  alleys,  in  the  betterment  of  public 
school  conditions,  suppressing  the  smoke  nuisance,  visit- 
ing jails  and  playgrounds  and  looking  after  infant  wel- 
fare. The  Woman's  City  Club  has  a  membership  of 
8.556.  This  is  rather  a  notable  number  for  such  an 
organization.  The  work  of  Chicago  women  for  the 
public  good  through  the  many  and  splendid  women's 
organizations  throughout  the  city  is  extraordinary. 

A  unique,  original,  and  most  effective  influence  in 
the  uplift  of  Chicago  is  the  Sunday  Evening  Club.  It 
was  established  in  1907  by  a  group  of  business  men  led 
by  the  noted  business  man,  clergyman,  and  sociologist, 
Clifford  W.  Barnes.  These  business  men  realized  the 
need  for  a  club  organized  to  provide  in  the  churchless 
downtown  section  of  Chicago  a  non-sectarian  Sunday 
evening  service  for  traveling  men  and  guests  in  the 
hotels,  for  strangers  in  the  city  who  had  not  found  the 
church  of  their  choice,  for  young  men  and  women  in 
the  boarding-houses  near  the  Loop  district,  and  for  the 
unchurched  everywhere  in  the  city. 

These  services  are  held  in  Orchestra  Hall  and  a  busi- 
ness or  professional  man  shares  in  the  program.  The 
Sunday  Evening  Club  is  supported  entirely  by  volun- 
tary gifts.  These  amount  to  about  $21,000  per  annum. 
The  speakers  have  been  drawn  from  the  ranks  of  dis- 
tinguished Americans  in  many  walks  of  life  and  also 
from  eminent  visitors  from  other  lands.  An  hour 
before  each  service  a  Bible  talk  is  held  by  President 
Barnes.     Every  service  is  accompanied  by  an  excellent 

311 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

musical  program,  including  the  club's  choir  of  lOO 
voices.  This  choir  has  been  ranked  by  authorities  from 
abroad  as  one  of  the  foremost  choral  societies  of 
America.  The  average  audience  of  the  club's  tenth  sea- 
son was  2,400.  The  aggregate  attendance  for  the  1917 
season  was  650,000. 

The  Sunday  Evening  Club  has  become  not  only  the 
most  successful  work  of  its  kind  in  the  world,  but,  as 
one  of  the  speakers  declared,  "A  nation-wide  influence." 
Distinguished  visitors  from  all  over  the  world  have  paid 
it  their  tribute  of  praise.  Its  expression  of  patriotism 
and  religion  makes  it  a  powerful  generator  of  morals. 
Its  president,  Mr.  Barnes,  was  the  president  of  the  Illi- 
nois War  Recreation  Board,  and  a  major  in  the  Red 
Cross  division,  charged  with  civilian  relief  in  Greece 
and  Italy. 

Religious  influence  has  been  a  strong  moral  force  in 
Chicago.  To  what  extent  Chicago's  famous  clergymen 
have  played  a  part  in  the  uplifting  and  upbuilding  of 
Chicago  can  best  be  determined  by  the  record  of  such 
internationally  known  preachers  as  Robert  Collier, 
Dwight  L.  Moody,  Dr.  P.  S.  Henson,  Prof.  David 
Swing,  Charles  R.  Henderson,  Newel  Dwight  Hillis, 
Bishop  Charles  P.  Anderson,  Rabbi  Emil  Hirsch,  Dr. 
Frank  \\'.  Gunsaulus.  and  many  other  famous  men  of 
the  church  who  are  known  throughout  the  world  where 
the  voice  of  God  is  heard,  the  power  of  Christianity  felt, 
and  the  erood  of  man  conserved. 


3T2 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    PLAN    OF    CHICAGO 


LATE  one  night  in  1893  a  small  group  of  promi- 
nent men  interested  in  the  development  of  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition- — then  in  the  making  — 
visited  the  exposition  grounds. 

It  was  draw^ing  near  the  time  for  opening  the  great 
fair.  Doubt  assailed  the  directors  that  it  would  be  opened 
on  time.  The  task,  for  the  time  remaining  was  Titanic. 
The  thought  of  opening  on  time  was  enough  to  stagger 
the  courage  of  any  set  of  men  in  the  world,  and  some 
of  the  best  were  in  charge  of  this  undertaking. 

That  progress  was  being  made  slowly,  as  the  fair 
neared  completion,  became  noised  about.  On  every  hand 
it  was  heard  the  exposition  would  not  open  on  schedule ; 
perhaps  it  would  be  delayed  long  after  the  date  set  for 
the  opening.  Seized  with  all-consuming  anxiety,  these 
men  could  not  keep  away  from  the  grounds.  They 
haunted  them  by  day,  and  on  this  occasion  they  visited 
them  late  in  the  night. 

Seated  on  a  great  pile  of  debris,  they  observed  the 
figure  of  a  man,  alone,  and  silent  as  a  statue.  They 
paused ;  something  in  his  attitude  impressed  them.  With 
back  and  shoulders  bent,  the  elbows  resting  on  propped 
knees  with  hands  clasped,  the  man  sat  motionless,  ap- 
parently in  rapture,  peering  out  over  an   indescribable 

31.3 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

mass  of  flotsam  and  jetsam;  discarded  rubbish,  together 
with  piles  of  iron  girders  and  timbers  and  tier  upon  tier 
of  barrels  and  boxes  surrounded  the  man  on  every  hand; 
and  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  rising  in  semi-majesty 
amidst  this  sea  of  disorder  and  silhouetted  against  the 
starlit  night,  were  the  domes,  turrets,  and  towers  of  the 
exposition  buildings  nearing  completion. 

The  opening  day  —  a  few  weeks  ofif  —  was  brought 
closer  by  the  tremendous  amount  of  work  yet  to  be 
accomplished.  Little  wonder  the  hearts  of  the  midnight 
visitors  quaked  with  dismay.  To  them,  it  seemed  that 
no  army  of  men,  even  under  the  most  skilled  leadership, 
could  create  order  and  harmony  in  so  short  a  time  where 
disorder  now  reigned  in  vastness. 

Coming  closer  to  the  silent  guardian  of  the  night 
seated  on  his  throne  of  confusion,  the  disturbed  ones 
marveled  at  their  discovery.  The  statue-like  sentinel 
was  none  other  than  Daniel  H.  Burnham,  the  archi- 
tect, organizer,  and  presiding  and  guiding  genius  of  the 
whole  great  project. 

Recovering  from  their  surprise,  the  visitors,  in  chorus, 
ejaculated,  "  Burnham,  what  are  you  doing  here,  alone 
and  at  this  time  of  night?"  Sympathetic  anxiety  was 
in  their  voices  for  they  knew  the  strain  the  man  had  been 
under  for  many  months. 

"I  came  here  to  think  and  plan,"  replied  the  archi- 
tect. 

"  What  can  you  think  and  plan  out  here  in  the  black- 
ness of  the  night  amidst  all  this  confusion?"  inquired  the 
visitors. 

"I  was  just  thinking  of  the  beauties  of  this  place; 

314 


/ 


Daniel  Hudson  Burnhani.     Born   1846  — died   1912. 

Author  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago  under  the  direction  of  The 

Commercial    Club. 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

of  the  wonder  of  it  all;  of  the  orderly  development; 
of  the  finished  harmony  and  grandeur." 

The  visitors  caught  something  of  the  great  architect's 
undaunted  spirit.  They  glimpsed  something  of  his 
vision  and  they  sensed  a  little  of  his  dream.  In  these 
they  felt,  rather  than  saw,  the  finished  project.  If 
doubts  about  the  opening  day  still  clutched  their  hearts, 
they  were  not  expressed.  Quietly  withdrawing,  under 
the  spell  of  their  chieftain's  abstraction,  they  left  the 
dreamer  to  work  out  his  dreams. 

The  World's  Columbian  Exposition  opened  on  the 
appointed  day  —  a  day  that  spelled  the  dawning  of  a 
new  era  for  the  United  States,  an  era  of  attractiveness 
in  the  orderly  development  of  cities. 

Where*  but  a  few  weeks  before  was  chaos  now  was 
beauty,  majesty,  order,  and  convenience  more  splendid 
than  ever  before  was  attempted  in  the  history  of  the 
nation  and  never  surpassed  in  the  making  of  modern 
cities. 

The  World's  Fair  and  Burnham's  name  became 
synonymous  throughout  the  land  and  across  the  water. 
Gradually  upon  thisr  was  built  the  hope  of  more  attrac- 
tive and  orderly  cities.  Men  of  vision  from  all  parts  of 
the  nation  came  and  saw  and  said :  "  Wliy  not  these 
things  in  the  building  of  our  cities?" 

The  first  to  perceive  the  desirable  and  practical  ideals 
of  the  fair  —  the  stately  buildings  conveniently  grouped 
and  the  systematic  arrangement  of  the  streets  and 
grounds  —  were  Mr.  Burnham's  associates  on  the  expo- 
sition's board  of  managers  and  his  colleagues  in  The 
Commercial  Club. 

315 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

The  growing  belief  that  these  could  be  adapted  to  the 
future  growth  of  Chicago  did  not  germinate  immedi- 
ately. It  dawned  gradually.  The  conception  took  place 
in  the  minds  of  several  and  occasionally  found  public 
expression  in  one  form  or  another  by  these,  the  city's 
leaders. 

Piecemeal,  the  idea  took  on  form  to  make  Chicago 
beautiful  and  orderly,  even  as  the  world's  greatest  ex- 
position—  the  work  of  its  own  citizens  —  had  been 
beautiful  and  orderly. 

First  it  was  suggested  that  the  fair  grounds'  686  acres 
be  preserved  and  made  permanently  attractive  and  con- 
venient for  a  public  park.  Leading  from  this  —  Jack- 
son Park  —  cityward,  it  was  planned  to  reclaim  the  Lake 
Front  by  filling  in  the  submerged  area  for  several  hundred 
feet  lakew^ard  through  to  Grant  Park  at  the  city's  center. 
This,  it  was  planned,  should  be  parked  to  contain  play- 
grounds, watercourses,  bathing  beaches,  and  drives. 

Plans  were  scarcely  under  way  for  this  when  the  idea 
for  a  city-wide  jjan  —  which  had  been  germinating  — 
found  public  expression ;  but  it  was  ten  years  after  the 
exposition  closed  its  gates  in  1893  before  these  vague 
but  insistent  ideas  for  a  plan  for  the  entire  city  began 
to  take  form. 

During  the  interval  of  a  decade,  leaders  in  The  Com- 
mercial and  The  Merchants'  clubs,  from  time  to  tmie, 
rnadi  fragmentary  suggestions  for  a  city  plan.  Thus 
the  inspiration  of  the  World's  Fair  was  kept  alive  and 
growing. 

Each  of  these  organizations  had  a  select  membership 
of  about  fifty.    The  Commercial,  old  and  exclusive,  was 

316 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

the  senior  club,  both  as  to  chib  Hfe  and  personnel. 
Its  members  were  the  principal  figures  in  Chicago's  great 
mercantile,  manufacturing  and  banking  institutions. 
The  Merchants'  Club,  having  similar  objects,  had  a 
slightly  larger  and  more  diversified  membership.  It 
was  composed  of  a  limited  few  of  the  city's  leading 
younger  men. 

Members  of  each  group  served  as  directors  of  the 
World's  Fair,  It  was  not  strange  that  the  beauty  and 
the  science  of  the  plan  of  the  fair  were  indelibly  im- 
pressed on  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  more  creative 
and  initiative  in  each  club  and  later  found  expression 
in  ideas  for  a  comprehensive  city-wide  plan  embodying 
the  principles  of  orderly  development. 

History  cannot  possibly  give  too  much  credit  to  the 
handful  of  men  who  suggested  and  aided  in  the  concep- 
tion and  advancement  of  a  plan  idea  for  the  whole  city. 
The  significance  of  their  service  to  their  fellows  and  to 
humanity  everywhere  is  magnified  when  contrasted  with 
Baron  Haussmann's  wonderful  Plan  of  Paris. 

Under  the  then  monarchical  rule  of  France,  civic 
spirit  was  a  quality  unneeded  and  unknown.  Citizens 
were  not  the  originators  or  the  initiators  of  things  for 
the  public  good.  These  came,  if  they  came  at  all,  by 
imperial   decree. 

And  so  it  was  with  the  Haussmann  Plan.  It  was  the 
product  of  a  single  mind  commandeered  and  paid  for  by 
the  French  government.  The  first  financial  outlay  pro- 
vided for  it  by  the  French  authorities  ran  into  hundreds 
of  millions  of  dollars.  The  money  appropriated,  work 
upon  the  plan  was  immediately  started  and  was  contin- 

317 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

iially  kept  up  until  the  entire  plan  was  completed,  re- 
quiring more  than  fifty  years. 

How  different  in  the  United  States!  Here  no  public 
money  can  be  had  with  which  to  start  a  plan,  but  when 
privately  subscribed  and  a  plan  finally  evolved,  even 
more  money  must  be  privately  subscribed  for  its  pro- 
motion. Then,  if  the  city  adopts  a  single  part  of  that 
plan  for  realization,  years  of  bickering  and  wrangling 
ensue  before  any  work  upon  it  is  begun,  and  more  years 
ensue,  with  all  manner  of  uncalled-for  and  expensive 
delays,  before  it  is  finished.  This  process  is  repeated  all 
over  again  with  each  succeeding  part  of  the  undertak- 
ing. That  is  why  private  citizens,  public  spirited,  have 
to  stand  back  of  city  plans  in  the  United  States  with 
their  pocketbooks  and  their  influence. 

Commendable,  of  course,  was  the  act  of  the  French 
government,  and  Haussmann  is  properly  immortalized  as 
a  great  man  and  a  wonderful  mind,  but  the  men  who 
conceived  and  carried  out  the  World's  Fair,  and  who 
were  inspired  by  it  to  undertake  a  still  greater  achieve- 
ment in  planning  for  their  city  could  experience  nothing 
of  the  aid  Haussmann  received  at  the  hands  of  his  gov- 
ernment. 

•  Money  was  necessary  for  a  beginning  ;tliis_could[  not 
be  had  from  the  municipality;  it  could  only  be  had  by 
private  subscription.  Fortunately  Chicago  possessed 
its  uwir'^faussrnann  —  Burnham  headed  the  project, 
giving  freely  of  his  time  and  genius  to  the  task  of  pre- 
paring the  Plan  of  Chicago.  More  than  Haussmann, 
he  gave  not  only  himself  without  price  and  his  great 
talent,  but  he  also  gave  generously  of  his  own  means. 

318 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHigAGO 

This  was  not  enough,  however.  Other  technical 
service  was  required  and  propaganda  of  the  most  ap- 
proved type  was  imperative. 

The  resources  for  these  needs  were  freely  subscribed 
by  the  members  of  The  Commercial  Club,  which  by  now 
had  merged  with  The  Merchants'  Club,  The  big  under- 
taking caused  the  fusion  of  interests,  and  by  the  com- 
bination of  the  energies  of  both  there  came  into  being 
one  of  the  most  potent  organizations  for  good  in  the 
entire  country. 

,_Of_infinitely  greater  value  than  the  money  of  these 
men  were  the  talent  and  the  astonishing  amount  of  time_ 
they;  deyoted.  -with  painstaking  care  to  the  solution  of 
the. whole  great  project. 

Meanwhile  Burnham  had  made  plans  which  he  con- 
tributed to  the  Umfed  States  -government  for  the  re- 
building of  Manila  in  the  Philippine  Islands  and  for  the 
construction  of  a  summer  capital  in  the  Islands.  Both 
were  accepted  by  the  national  government,  and  Chicago's 
great  architect,  now  universally  recognized  as  the  fore- 
most city  planner  of  the  times,  was  signally  honored  by 
President  Taft. 

Several  men  were  responsible  for  the  ideas  which  cul- 
minated, in  1908,  in  the  creation  and  publication  of  the 
Plan  of  Chicago. 

Burnham  was  frequently  heard  to  admonish  his  co- 
workers not  to  plan  near-sightedly.  His  exact  words 
were : 

Make  no  little  plans ;  they  have  no  magic  to  stir  men's 
blood  and  probably  themselves  will  not  be  realized.  Make 
big  plans ;  aim  high  in  hope  and  work,  remembering  that 

319 


Wt^AT  OF  THE  CITY? 

a  noble,  logical  diagram  once  recorded  will  never  die,  but 
long  after  we  are  gone  will  be  a  living  thing,  asserting 
itself  with  growing  intensity.  Remember  that  our  sons 
and  grandsons  are  going  to  do  things  that  would  stagger 
us.  Let  your  watchword  be  "order"  and  your  beacon 
"  beauty." 

This  was  the  broad  and  inspiring_platform  upon  which 
the  Plan  of  Chicago  was  developed.  CrediT  is  given  to 
Franklin  MacVeagh,  afterward  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, for  first  voicing  the  idea  and  suggesting  it  to  The 
Commercial  Club  in  1901. 

Spontaneity  of  thought,  however,  actuated  others  si- 
multaneously. Frederic  A.  Delano,  president  of  the 
Wabash  Railway  Company,  issued  a  brochure  in  that 
year.  It  was  accompanied  by  a  little  map  of  Chicago 
as  it  then  was  and  as  it  might  some  day  be.  The  work 
later,  on  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  could  not  have  been  so 
intelligently  accomplished  without  a  systematic  planning 
and  readjustment  of  street  arteries,  as  pointed  out  by 
Delano. 

Walter  H.  Wilson,  a  prominent  banker  and  later 
city  comptroller  who  rendered  conspicuous  service  in  the 
arduous  work  of  organizing  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  having 
been  the  treasurer  of  every  Plan  Committee  in  both 
clubs,  was  president  of  The  Merchants'*Club  in  that  year. 
Charles  D.  Norton,  who  later  became  secretary  to  Pres-  - 
ident  Taft,  and  still  later  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
United  States  Treasury,  was  the  secretary  of  that  club, 
and  Frederic  A.  Delano  was  a  member  of  its  executive 
committee. 

Mr.  Delano  was  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  club 

^20 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

was  running  out  of  live  subjects  and  realizing  that  it 
should  take  up  something  new  and  constructive,  sug- 
gested the  general  plan  or  scheme  for  the  future  develop- 
ment of  Chicago. 

At  a  joint  dinner  of  the  Merchants'  and  Commercial 
clubs,  March  i8,  1905,  Edward  B.  Butler  of  The  Mer- 
chants' Club  made  a  plea  for  what  he  called  the  great 
Burnham  Plan  for  Chicago.  He  earnestly  begged  the 
members  of  the  clubs  to  consider  the  matter.  Mr.  But- 
ler said  : 

There  is  in  Chicago  today  such  an  awakening  of  public 
spirit  as  has  not  been  seen  before  in  years;  the  people 
need  only  to  be  aroused  to  their  opportunity.  They  need 
to  be  fired  with  some  of  the  old-time  Chicago  spirit  — 
the  spirit  which  rebuilt  the  city  after  the  fire  and  which, 
later  on,  in  1893,  showed  all  the  w^orld  that  out  here 
in  the  West  there  have  been  developments  along  other 
lines  than  those  which  have  to  do  with  hay  and  hogs  and 
corn  and  cattle.  There  is  much  to  be  done  but  there  is 
nothing  which  the  members  of  these  two  clubs,  working 
together,  could  not  accomplish.  We  need  to  consider  a' 
great  plan  for  the  city  —  a  great  Burnham  Plan  —  and 
right  now  we  could  make  a  splendid  beginning  by  con- 
structing a  Lake  Front  park  according  to  plans  which 
Mr.  Burnham  has  already  shown  to  the  members  of  these 
clubs. 

This  appeal  of  Mr.  Butler's  made  a  strong  impression, 
but  nothing  further  developed  until  June,  1906,  when 
Mr.  Burnham  was  asked  if  he  would  accept  when  The 
Merchants'  Club  invited  him  to  make  a  Plan  of  Chicago. 

Simultaneously  Franklin  MacVeagh.  president  of  The 
Commercial  Club,  wrote  to  Mr.  Burnham,  saying : 

321 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

I  am  extremely  glad  The  Merchants'  Club  has  taken 
up  the  matter  of  a  working  plan  or  program  for  Chi- 
cago's development  and  security  in  the  present  and  future 
and  that  you  are  willing  to  give  your  services.  I  am  sure 
my  Commercial  Club  committee  will  fully  approve  this 
course,  for  what  we  all  wish  is  to  get  you  at  work 
and  accomplish  the  thing.  In  190 1  I  started  after  this 
Plan,  and  though  I  am  sorry  it  could  not  have  been  taken 
up  by  The  Commercial  Club,  I  feel  that  it  is  to  be  in  as 
good  hands  as  possible. 


This  letter  from  Mr.  MacVeagh  cleared  the  way  for 
action,  as  Mr.  Burnham  had  felt  reluctant  to  commence 
the  Plan  with  The  Merchants'  Club  until  Mr.  MacVeagh's 
suggestion  of  five  years  previous  to  The  Commercial 
Club  had  been  disposed  of. 

Arrangements  were  almost  immediately  completed  by 
The  Merchants'  Club  with  Mr.  Burnham  to  prepare  a 
comprehensive  plan  indicating  a  desirable  future  devel- 
opment for  the  city  of  Chicago  and  its  environs  similar 
to  the  plans  prepared  for  the  United  States  government 
for  Washington,  D.  C,  and  for  Manila,  and  the  one  for 
San  Francisco.  The  committee  in  charge  of  this  pro- 
ject included  all  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  been  at  work 
upon  this  idea.  A  consulting  board  was  appointed,  in- 
cluding the  governor  of  the  state,  the  mayor  of  Chi- 
cago, the  presidents  of  all  the  governmental  agencies 
in  Chicago  and  the  presidents  of  the  leading  civic  and 
commercial  organizations  and  of  the  Art  Institute,  the 
Western  Society  of  Engineers,  and  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Architects.  When  these  arrangements  were 
concluded  and  put  in  the  form  of  a  formal  report,  the 

322 


^i%^^' 


^vs 


e»^*' 


^■^ 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

committee  expressed   itself   in  the   following  prophetic 
and  exhortive  language: 

The  enormous  growth  of  Chicago  means  more  than  the 
mere  multiplication  of  office  buildings,  factories,  and 
residences.  It  means  that  new  citizens  are  pouring  into 
Chicago  at  unprecedented  rates.  Probably  fifty  per  cent 
of  the  business  men  of  Chicago,  large  and  small,  were 
not  residents  at  the  time  of  the  World's  Fair  in  1893. 
Many  of  them  are  unfamiliar  with  the  years  of  de- 
pression which  followed;  many  of  them  are  young  and 
optimistic  and  do  not  for  a  moment  believe  that  Chicago 
shall  forever  have  the  poorest  traction  service,  the 
smokiest  atmosphere,  or  the  dirtiest  streets.  On  the  con- 
trary, this  vast  body  of  newcomers  have  heard  too  much 
of  the  difficulties  confronting  Chicago.  They  have  had 
too  few  concrete  constructive  propositions  laid  'before 
them  to  appeal  to  their  imagination  and  help  to  increase 
their  civic  pride  and  loyalty. 

As  long  ago  as  1903  Mr.  Burnham  pointed  out  the 
possibility  of  an  outer  park  and  lagoon  off  the  Lake 
Front  to  connect  Jackson  and  Grant  parks,  but  nothing 
has  been  done  about  it.  The  public  is  demanding  an 
orderly  and  beautiful  development  of  cities.  It  is  part 
of  the  great  constructive  impulse  of  this  prosperous  time. 
In  their  own  private  affairs  merchants  are  responding  to 
this  public  demand.  What  would  have  been  deemed 
wasteful  twenty  years  ago  is  now  simply  good  business. 
Our  great  stores  twenty  years  ago  were  content  to  house 
themselves  in  cramped  and  badly  ventilated  quarters. 
Now  spacious  show  rooms  are  finished  in  mahogany,  are 
carpeted  with  richest  materials,  beautiful  domes  are 
decorated  by  Tiffany,  rest  rooms,  and  grill  rooms  are  pro- 
vided for  customers,  and  banks  are  housing  themselves 
in  handsome  structures  of  classic  design.  Business  men 
now  know  that  these  things  pay,  and  people  are  com- 

323 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

mencing  to  realize  that  beauty  and  order  in  civic  develop- 
ment will  pay  more  than  their  cost  in  health  and  happi- 
ness. 

This  committee  had  only  well  started  on  its  plans 
when,  in  1907,  the  two  clubs  —  the  Merchants'  and  the 
Commercial  —  merged  under  the  name  of  the  older  or- 
ganization, The  Commercial  Club,  and  in  April  of  that 
year  The  Merchants'  Club  turned  its  Plan  work  over  to 
The  Commercial  Club  and  a  new  Plan  Committee  was 
organized  with  Charles  D.  Norton  as  chairman  and 
Charles  H.  Wacker  as  vice-chairman,  and  work  on  the 
Plan  of  Chicago  followed  in  real  earnest.  With  the  co- 
ordinated strength  of  the  two  clubs,  many  important 
events  happened  quickly.  Plan  remnants  were  gathered, 
new  suggestions  came  forth  and  new  forces  were  re- 
cruited. The  great  energies,  enthusiasm,  and  resources 
of  one  hundred  of  Chicago's  leading  business  men  were 
now  crystallized  and  turned  loose  on  making  Chicago 
over.  New  and  forceful  personalities  loomed  and  came 
to  the  fore.  None  among  these  was  so  effective  as  that 
of  Charles  H.  Wacker  w^ho,  with  vision,  finesse,  dis- 
patch, and  a  wisdom  born  of  large  experience  in  deal- 
ing with  men  and  things,  threw  himself  into  this  work 
with  remarkable  vigor  and  tact. 

After  ten  months  of  hard  labor  by  the  celebrated  ar- 
chitect, engineers,  and  artists,  during  which  the  commit- 
tee, working  day  and  night,  held  eighty-three  meetings 
in  Mr.  Burnham's  office  and  two  hundred  conferences 
with  individuals  or  organizations,  the  final  report  was 
ready  to  present  to  the  club's  membership  for  adoption. 
This  was  done  at  a  dinner  of  The  Commercial  Club  in 

324 


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^^XMtRaVTY  0^ 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

February,  1908.  Its  president,  John  V.  Far  well,  one  of 
Chicago's  foremost  wholesale  dry-goods  merchants,  in 
presenting  the  subject,  said : 

With  the  exception  of  Washington,  American  cities 
have  grown  and  developed  in  a  haphazard  manner. 
American  citizens  have  been  too  busy  to  think  much  of 
the  present  or  the  distant  future.  Their  present  has 
occupied  too  much  of  their  time;  in  fact  all  of  their  time. 

When  Chicago,  therefore,  had  taken  up  a  plan  to 
develop  the  whole  city,  the  originators  found  the  first 
obstacle  to  overcome  was  an  inert  mass  of  public  senti- 
ment. The  Commercial  Club  recognized  this  fact  when, 
in  December,  1894,  the  year  after  the  closing  of  the 
World's  Fair,  it  chose  as  a  subject  of  one  of  its  meetings, 
"What  Shall  be  Done  with  the  Lake  Front?"  At  this 
time  Mr.  Burnham  first  presented  to  the  club  and  to  the 
citizens  of  Chicago  the  idea  of  connecting  Grant  Park 
with  Jackson  Park.  Later  The  Merchants'  Club  also  dis- 
cussed the  same  subject.  Due  to  the  energy  of  The 
Merchants'  Club  before  the  two  clubs  were  united,  it 
induced  Mr.  Burnham  to  make  a  comprehensive  plan 
for  all  Chicago  toward  which  the  city  could  build  in 
successive  years  as  they  saw  fit  to  do  with  the  money 
and  the  means  at  their  command.  Now  this  work  which 
v/as  begotten  by  The  Commercial  Club,  but  born  of  The 
Merchants'  Club,  has  been  nurtured  and  developed  and 
completed  by  the  new  Commercial  Club. 

The  very  foundation  and  aim  of  the  whole  idea  is  to 
develop  the  enduring  prosperity  of  Chicago  and,  in 
order  to  do  that,  all  the  elements  which  go  to  make  up  a 
great  city  must  be  considered,  just  as  all  exalted  charac- 
ters must  be  well-rounded  men  —  men  who  are  developed 
on  all  sides  of  their  character,  physically,  mentally, 
morally,  and  spiritually  —  and  so  great  cities,  if  they 
wish  to  be  great,  must  be  developed  on  all  sides,  must 

32.-) 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

develop  their  commerce,  their  beauty,  and  their  morals. 
This  Plan  means  all  that  to  Chicago  and  if  the  Plan  is 
carried  out,  it  will  give  us  a  city  in  which  the  people 
and  in  which  everybody  will  desire  to  live. 

During  the  eighteen  months'  study  on  this  Plan,  we 
have  had  in  mind  all  of  the  time  the  question  of  what  is 
the  best  thing  for  Chicago  fifty  or  one  hundred  years 
hence.  We  have  not  tried  to  prepare  a  plan  for  today  or 
for  tomorrow  or  for  ourselves.  We  have  not  tried  to 
solve  the  problem  of  Chicago  from  that  point  of  view. 

Mr.  Farwell  then  introduced  Charles  D.  Norton,  the 
chairman  of  the  Plan  Committee,  who  recited  the  his- 
tory of  the  entire  Plan  movement.  In  the  course  of  his 
remarks,  he  said : 

Our  nearly  three  hundred  conferences  have  included 
the  governor,  the  mayor,  almost  all  of  the  aldermen,  the 
park  commissioners,  army  and  navy  engineers,  railroad 
and  traction  engineers  and  officials,  harbor  and  drainage 
experts,  property  owners'  associations,  committees  from 
The  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  newspaper  men, 
members  of  the  State  Legislature,  congressmen  and  many 
others.  From  one  and  all  we  have  received  hearty  co- 
operation. Five  bills  passed  the  Illinois  Legislature 
affecting  the  Plan. 

The  city  plan  is  a  business  proposition  and  it  should 
be  developed  under  the  direction  and  control  of  business 
men.  Our  political  administrations,  whether  city,  county, 
or  state,  are  subject  to  frequent  changes  of  personnel  and 
of  policy.  In  Cook  County  today  there  are  nine  inde- 
pendent taxing  bodies  besides  the  federal  government, 
making  plans,  issuing  bonds  and  spending  money  inde- 
pendently of  one  another.  Occasionally  they  are  antago- 
nistic to  one  another,  but  every  one  of  these  taxing  bodies 
must  and  does  bow  before  the  central  and  final  authority 

326 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

—  the  public  itself.  A  permanent  body  representative  of 
the  entire  city  like  this  club  must  continue  to  father 
this  work. 

In  this  Plan  work  we  are  compelled  to  realize  that  a 
decade  is  a  short  time  in  the  life  of  a  city.  A  well- 
managed  railroad  is  but  carrying  out  today  the  plans 
which  were  laid  five  or  ten  or  more  years  ago.  It  is  un- 
reasonable to  expect  them  to  change  their  plans  in  a 
moment  or  indeed  to  change  them  at  all  until  it  is  in  a 
broad  way  to  their  financial  and  economic  interest  to 
do  so. 

We  have  considered  every  proposition  that  has  been 
before  us  with  an  open  mind.  Absolutely  nobody  has 
had  an  axe  to  grind.  The  fact  is  that  with  the  com- 
mittees and  all  the  associations  and  officials,  the  idea  has 
been  that  in  making  a  Plan  of  Chicago,  any  one  man's 
real  estate  proposition  or  railroad  proposition  or  some 
other  individual  proposition  should  give  way  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  town  and  to  the  future  development  of 
the  town.  We  have  had  just  one  desire  and  that  is  to 
create  a  Plan  for  Chicago.  Such  a  plan  for  the  com- 
mercial and  physical  development  of  Chicago  should  be 
so  logical  as  a  business  proposition  and  so  attractive  in 
appearance  as  to  appeal  both  to  the  business  judgment  and 
to  the  civic  pride  of  this  community. 

Every  one  of  the  nearly  three  hundred  conferences  of 
this  committee  was  held  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Burnham, 
with  him  present,  and  with  the  cooperation  of  the  best 
experts  that  could  be  employed  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  The  best  young  Americans  of  recent  years 
who  have  gone  to  Paris  and  studied  under  men  like 
Henard,  Geradet,  Parelin,  Laboux,  and  other  professors 
of  the  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts,  were  employed  by  The 
Commercial  Club  committee  on  the  Plan. 

When  Mr.  Norton  finished  his  report  at  this  mem- 
orable  dinner   and   presented   Mr,    Burnham,   who   ex- 

327 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

plained  the  Plan  in  detail  to  the  members  of  the  club, 
Mr.  Norton  said : 

The  man  who  could  assemble  such  a  working  course, 
the  man  who  could  persuade  Mr.  Jules  Guerin  to  come 
out  from  New  York  and  abandon  the  work  he  was  doing, 
is  just  the  one  man  who  is  better  fitted  to  draw  a  plan 
for  us  than  any  other  man  in  the  whole  United  States 
—  Daniel  Hudson  Burnham.  To  work  with  him  as  we 
have  has  been  one  of  the  finest  experiences  in  life.  We 
have  had  a  battle  of  wits  there  and  our  judgments  have 
clashed  many  times.  He  has  listened  to  everything  and 
everybody  and  he  has  been  willing  to  concede  every- 
thing except  the  essentials,  and  the  essentials  are  in  our 
Plan. 

During  the  work  on  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  working 
quarters  were  contributed  by  Mr.  Burnham.  First 
among  the  expert  technical  men  engaged  and  placed 
under  his  supervision  was  Edward  H.  Bennett,  whose 
special  training  on  city  planning  in  the  Beaux-Arts  of 
Paris,  coupled  with  his  aptness  for  the  Chicago  work, 
made  him  at  once  Burnham's  right-hand  aid.  Jules 
Guerin,  the  celebrated  artist  of  two  continents,  was  em- 
ployed for  color  work  on  special  designs.  Walter  L. 
Fisher,  eminent  attorney,  afterward  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior under  President  Taft,  prepared  the  legal  opinion 
on  procedure  and  Charles  Moore,  secretary  of  the  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  Planning  Commission,  was  employed  on 
drafting  the  report  of  the  experts.  This  report  was  em- 
bodied in  a  splendid  volume,  with  the  drawings  and 
])aintings,  for  publio-'^ist^ibution.  This  is  said  to  be 
the  most  splendid^report  on  city  planning  ever  published. 


328 

r^-)    -for    ^^),\\f^l^,Ay\[,^^\^^ 


W  C>  i 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

Mr.  Moore's  identification  with  this  work  is  a  reminder 
of  the  flight  of  time  and  the  passing  of  great  men.  Of 
the  Washington  Commission  of  five  members,  he,  as 
secretary,  alone  remains.  The  others  —  Senator  Mc- 
Millan, of  Michigan,  who  secured  its  appointment  in 
Congress;  Stanford  White,  the  great  New  York  archi- 
tect; St.  Gaudens,  the  nation's  foremost  sculptor;  and 
Mr.  Burnham  —  all  have  laid  aside  the  mantle  of  their 
'great  genius  at  the  call  of  the  Great  Master. 

No  estimate  of  value  can  be  put  upon  the  services  of 
the  business  men  in  this  work.  These  were  men  of  large 
affairs  who  could  and  did  bring  to  it  the  accumulated 
wisdom  of  their  vast  private  interests  and  their  general 
and  peculiar  knowledge  of  the  city's  geography,  re- 
sources, possibilities,  and  needs. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  general  committee  was  on 
April  30,  1908,  and  the  last  before  the  publication  of 
the  Plan  report  was  held  June  14,  1909.  The  interval 
of  slighdy  more  than  a  year  between  the  Norton  report 
and  the  adoption  of  Mr.  Burnham's  Plan  by  the  members 
of  The  Commercial  Club  witnessed  the  completion  of  the 
last  detail  on  the  Plan  and  its  publication  and  distribu- 
tion. Finances  were  arranged,  The  Commercial  Club 
putting  up  all  of  the  money ;  special  state  legislation  was 
had,  and  the  idea  for  the  appointment  of  a  special  city 
commission  to  take  up  and  continue  the  work  was  ap- 
proved. Meanwhile,  as  the  work  of  the  committee 
developed  with  increasing  importance,  Mr.  Norton  re- 
moved to  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  the  need  for  a  recog- 
nized leader  of  large  executive  prowess  became  plain. 
Again,  as  in  the  city's  good  fortune  in  possessing  Mr. 

329 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Burnham,  the  right  man  was  found  in  the  very  councils 
of  the  Plan  proponents.  He  was  Charles  H.  Wacker, 
who  had  served  as  vice-chairman  with  Mr.  Norton  from 
the  very  inception  of  the  Plan  movement.  He  it  was 
who  accepted  the  arduous  and  exacting  post  of  general 
chairman  of  the  committee  upon  the  urgent  and  unani- 
mous plea  of  his  colleagues.  It  was  shortly  thereafter,- 
as  the  work  was  nearing  completion  under  Wacker's 
enterprising  direction,  that  the  question  of  a  permanent 
city  commission  was  brought  up. 

Next  to  the  Plan  itself,  the  most  important  thing,  it 
was  recognized,  was  to  put  it  across.  All  agreed  that  the 
Plan  Committee  of  The  Commercial  Club,  which  for 
more  than  a  year  had  given  bountifully^  of  its  time, 
could  not  be  expected  to  continue  to  do  so;  also  that  a 
different  organization,  backed  by  the  city  and  represen- 
tative of  its  entire  citizenry,  was  essential  to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Plan. 

To  Clyde  M.  Carr  fell  the  distinction  of  suggesting 
such  a  commission,  which  he  did  on  April  26,  1909.  It 
has  since  become  clear  that  no  more  important  contri- 
bution was  made  to  the  entire  Plan  work  than  this  sug- 
gestion. 

Chairman  Wacker  agreed  to  see  the  mayor  about  the 
matter.  Again  Chicago  was  fortunate  in  having  at  that 
particular  moment  a  mayor  like  Fred  A.  Busse.  He 
was  big,  broad,  and  receptive  to  Wacker's  proposal. 

Meanwhile  the  Plan  was  rapidly  becoming  known. 
The  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce  had  reviewed 
and  approved  it.  Many  meetings  were  held  with  civic 
and  public  bodies.     Boston,  Cincinnati,  and  St.  Louis 

330 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

sent  their  business  leaders  to  confer  with  the  Plan  Com- 
mittee and  leading  magazines  began  taking  it  up. 

October  30,  1909,  Mr.  Wacker  reported  that  arrange- 
ments had  been  made  for  the  appointment  by  the  mayor, 
at  the  request  of  the  City  Council,  of  a  permanent  body 
to  be  known  as  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission. 

Wacker's  report  was  heralded  with  great  delight, 
especially  when  it  became  known  that  a  condition  upon 
which  the  mayor  agreed  to  appoint  the  commission  was 
that  Wacker  should  head  it  as  the  permanent  chair- 
man. Then  it  was  that,  rallied  by  Burnham,  his  col- 
leagues extended  to  him  thanks  and  their  warm  admira- 
tion for  his  meritorious  service  and  personal  sacrifice  to 
the  public. 

Little  did  the  committee  understand  what  both  would 
amount  to  in  the  years  that  were  to  follow.  A  promi- 
nent leader  of  The  Commercial  Club  in  the  Plan  move- 
ment from  the  start,  said  to  me  as  late  as  1915,  "When 
history  is  written  and  credit  is  meted  out,  the  major 
part  of  the  credit  for  realization  of  the  Plan  will  ever 
go  to  Wacker." 

As  chairman  of  the  Plan  Commission  from  its  incep- 
tion, respected  and  relied  upon  by  the  entire  city  almost 
to  a  point  of  veneration,  and  known  throughout  the 
nation  for  his  unusual  work  and  accomplishment, 
Wacker,  down  through  the  years  of  changing  conditions 
and  three  city  administrations  of  different  political  faiths, 
has  remained  steadfast,  preaching  the  gospel  of  hu- 
manity and  good  order,  solid  as  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar, 
far-seeing,  tactful,  forceful ;  and  energetically  carrying 
the  principal   part   of   the   burden   through   discourage- 

331 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

ments,  setbacks,  and  seeming  hopelessness  that  would 
try  the  courage  and  patience'  of  the  most  stout-hearted. 
Optimistically  he  has  forged  ahead  when  others  would 
lag. 

Wacker's  personal  sacrifices  of  time,  health,  and 
money  have  been  tremendous.  His  leadership  has  been 
unexcelled  and  his  success  unbelievable.  A  Commercial 
Club  member  at  a  meeting  of  the  old  committee  in  19 15, 
said :  "  More  has  been  accomplished  under  Wacker's 
leadership  m  six  years  than  was  thought  possible  could 
be  attained  in  fifteen." 

The  Plan  of  Chicago  and  Charles  H.  Wacker  are 
synonymous.  Perish  the  day  when  either  shall  falP 
Somebody  really  ought  to  write  a  biography  of  Mr. 
Wacker.  It  would  fairly  bristle  with  his  acts  for  the 
public  good.  I  have  merely  fixed  his  identity  with  the 
Plan  of  Chicago.  A  complete  resume  of  his  public 
activities  would  designate  him  as  Chicago's  most  use- 
ful citizen. 

Wisely  it  was  ordained  on  the  appointment  of  the 
Plan  Commission,  November  9,  1909,  that  The  Com- 
mercial Club  should  continue  its  Plan  Committee  under 
the  executive  control  of  Edward  B.  Butler.  The  co- 
operation of  this  committee,  its  sympathetic  encourage- 
ment and  financial  assistance  have  been  a  great  aid  to 
the  commission. 

Others  who  were  conspicuously  active  as  members  of 
the  original  general  committees  on  the  Plan  of  Chicago 
of  The  Merchants'  Club  and  The  Commercial  Club  are 
such  prominent  men  as :  David  R.  Forgan,  Adolphus  C. 
Bartlett,  Clyde  M.  Carr,  John  V.  Farwell,  Joy  Morton, 

332 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

Charles  H.  Thome,  Charles  L.  Hutchinson,  and  RoIIin 
A.  Keyes.  So  important  is  this  far-reaching  service  of 
the  members  of  The  Commercial  Club  that  a  full  list 
of  its  distinguished  personnel  —  the  men  who  with  large 
public  spirit  financed  the  Plan  work  by  their  donations, 
or  who  served  with  fidelity  on  numerous  sub-committees 
• — in  order  that  it  may  have  standing  recognition  —  is 
reproduced  in  chapter  fifteen. 

The  unique  and  remarkable  organization  of  the  Plan 
Commission,  the  material  assistance  of  The  Commercial 
Club,  and  the  results  so  far  accomplished  on  the  Plan 
have  been  covered  in  other  chapters. 

A  great  boon  to  the  commission  was  the  appointment 
at  the  start  of  Frank  I.  Bennett  as  vice-chairman. 
Wacker  has  always  recognized  Bennett's  service  as  of 
the  most  far-reaching  worth  and  character.  Bennett. 
a  political  leader,  a  lawyer  by  training,  versed  in  proce- 
dure as  are  few  men  through  long  years  of  public 
service  in  high  city  positions,  brought  to  the  commission 
wisdom,  dignity,  and  guidance  of  extraordinary  value. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  half  a  dozen  leading  Chicago 
business  men  were  in  some  degree  or  other  the  origi- 
nators of  the  Chicago  Plan  idea.  MacVeagh,  Burnham, 
Norton,  Delano,  Wacker,  Butler  —  each  in  different 
ways  and  at  different  times  played  an  important  part  in 
creating  and  fostering  the  idea  for  a  great  comprehen- 
sive plan  for  the  making  of  Chicago  into  a  city  of  at- 
tractiveness, convenience,  and  healthfulness. 
"""Wilson,  Farwell,  and  Carr,  in  their  respective  official 
capacities  in  the  two  clubs,  were  effective  in  their  aid 
of   the  movement.     All   were  actuated  by  the  highest 

33.3 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

civic  motives  for  the  common  good  of  the  city  in  the 
betterment  of  its  people. 

The  zeal  and  executive  genius  of  Norton,  aided  by 
the  original  suggestions  and  wise  counsel  of  Delano, 
were  conspicuously  noteworthy.  These  two  men  ac- 
complished the  lion's  share  of  early  and  effective  propa- 
ganda. Butler,  in  his  ardent  friendship  for  Burnham, 
was  a  constant  Plan  advocate  and  an  equally  exhilarat- 
ing stimulus  to  the  great  architect. 

But  the  two  lasting  outstanding  figures  —  resourceful, 
inspiring,  each  in  his  special  province  indispensable  — 
were  Burnham  and  Wacker.  To  these  stalwarts  "of 
civic  advance  ChicagolJWes  its  Plan  and  its  realization. 
Burnham,  the  maker,  and  Wacker,  the  praaiQter.  are 
tftenaTRes  and  functions  to  which  Chicago  owes  its  j[rea,t 
Plan  achievements.  Inseparably  interlinked,  their  per- 
sonalities will  go  down  the  avenues  of  time  into  the 
pages  of  history  of  city  makers  and  builders.  This 
estimate  of  Wacker's  services  and  sacrifices  for  his  city 
was  emphasized  in  a  resolution  of  appreciation  tendered 
to  him  by  John  G.  Shedd  at  a  meeting  extraordinary  of 
the  Plan  Commission  late  in  1918.  Mr.  Shedd,  one  of 
the  most  useful  and  enthusiastic  supporters  of  the  com- 
mission's work,  on  past  occasion  two  or  three  times  had 
given  expression  to  the  chairman's  forceful,  effective, 
and  sacrificial  leadership. 

These  are  the  facts  made  public  for  the  first  time 
which  show  the  influences  harking  down  from  the 
World's  Fair  which  finally  set  in  motion  the  machinery 
for  a  comprehensive  city-wide  Chicago  Plan.  They  are 
recorded   here   to   show   that  out   of   these  several   in- 

334 


Baron  Georges  Eugene  Haussmann,  rebuilder  of  Paris,  the  greatest 
city   planner   of   all    times. 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

fluences  there  grew  a  spirit  of  cooperation  which  is  ena- 
bhng  Chicago  to  achieve  its  destiny  —  the  most  beautiful 
city  in  the  nation,  if  not  the  largest  city  in  the  wofldf 
These  facts  are  shown  to  give  inspiration  to  others  who, 
in  other  cities,  may  have  grown  discouraged  along  the 
pathway  of  city  planning  endeavor  or  who  desire  to 
make  a  st^rt  but  cannot  perceive  the  manner  in  which 
it  should  be  made  to  insure  success. 

Modem-day  city  planning  is  a  business  proposition. 
The  future  of  the  American  city  is  a  trust  in  the  hands 
of  its  public-spirited  captains  of  industry.  To  these  the 
people  must  look  for  the  fulfillment  of  their  highest 
welfare  if  that  estate  is  to  be  effectively  and  quickly 
realized. 

The  Plan  of  Chicago  itself  is  of  the  greatest  interest. 
Taken  in  connection  with  Chicago's  physical  layout  and 
strategic  geographic  location,  it  is  almost  dramatic. 

Chicago,  bound  by  Lake  Michigan  on  the  east,  spreads 
from  the  lake  in  the  shape  of  a  huge  fan,  level  and  inter- 
laced with  railroad  tracks.  So  flat  is  it,  and  so  low  it 
was  in  1857,  that  a  considerable  portion  of  what  is  now 
the  central  section  had  to  be  raised  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
feet  to  give  the  city  proj>er  drainage. 

Chicago,  like  Petrograd,  is  literally  a  raised  city  — 
the  difference  being,  as  a  certain  vivid  mind  put  it, 
Petrograd  was  built  on  piling  and  Chicago  was  jacked 
up  from  a  swamp. 

Grurdon  S.  Hubbard,  one  of  Chicago's  early  white 
settlers,  states  that  when  he  made  his  first  trips  in  an 
open  canoe  from  Mackinac  on  exi>editions  to  trade  with 
the   Indian?    for  skins   and   other   commodities,   it  was 

335 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

necessary,  when  Chicago  was  reached,  .to  transport  the 
canoes  and  their  stock  by  hand  over  a  large  tract  of  low 
marsh  which  intervened  between  the  banks  of  the  lake 
and  the  high  land  on  the  way  to  the  Illinois  River. 

It  is  also  a  matter  of  historical  record  that  in  the  early 
days,  when  Chicago  was  a  mere  village,  the  mud  was  so 
deep  in  the  main  streets,  now  the  Loop  section,  that  signs 
were  frequently  posted,  reading,  "No  bottom  here." 

Occasionally,  even  today,  during  heavy  rainfalls, 
water  backs  up  in  the  mains  and  floods  the  basements  of 
downtown  buildings. 

The  plainlike  surface  of  Chicago  reduces  the  physical 
problem  of  city  planning  to  the  minimum.  No  such 
hardships  confront  the  city  planner  as  exist  in  a  hilly 
city  like  Seattle,  or  a  city  of  surface  rock,  like  parts  of 
New  York. 

Chicago's  problems  are  chiefly  those  of  rapid  growth 
and  haphazard  development,  due  to  the  lack  of  proper 
planning  at  an  early  time.  In  {his  It  is  quite  comparable 
"to  London,  wliere  a  single  central  street  improvement  a 
mile  in  length  and  one  hundred  feet  wide  cost  the  British 
capital  thirty  million  dollars. 

Chicago  has  been  termed  a  "haphazard  group  of  oyer- 
grown  villages."  This,  while  a  bit  extravagant,  is  al- 
most literally  true.  As  the  city  grew  and  spread  out 
over  a  vast  area,  budding  centers  and  small  towns  were 
assimilated  without  systematic   street  connections. 

The  streets  of  the  main  city  were  laid  out,  apparently 
without  any  particular  reason,  sixty-six  feet  wide  —  the 
width  of  a  country  road  from  time  immemorial.  A 
few  streets  are  eighty  feet  wide  and  a  very  few  boule- 

336 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

vards  are  one  hundred  feet  wide.  Splendid  Michigan 
Avenue,  the  widest  thoroughfare,  for  the  distance  of 
one  mile  skirting  Grant  Park  in  the  city's  center,  is  one 
hundred  and  thirty  feet  wide. 

The  main  scheme  of  the  city's  streets  is  the  right  angle 
or  what  is  commonly  termed  the  "checker-board"  plan 
—  good  for  a  small  city  but  despairingly  inadequate  for 
a  great  city.  "~     '  ~" 

Diagonal  or  "cut  across  lots,"  time-saving  thorough- 
fares so  essential  to  the  transit  of  a  city  of  millions  are 
few  in  number. 

The  number  of  thriving,  outlying  business  centers  is 
unusually  large.  Although  these  are  widely  distributed, 
covering  all  sections,  the  major  business  and  transpor- 
tation of  the  city  centers  in  the  central  section  known  as 
the  Loop,  which,  in  extent  of  intensive  development, 
covers  a^bbut  one-quarter  of  a  square  mile. 

Business  has  been  shamefully  —  almost  criminally  — 
allowed  to  encroach  upon  the  finer  residential  sections. 
So  flagrant  has  this  practice  become  that  lots  for  busi- 
ness purposes  on  one  of  the  finest  boulevards  in  a 
"smart"  section  li.ave  sold  as  high  as  one  thousand 
dollars  a  front  foot,  seven  miles  from  the  corner  of 
State  and  Madison  streets,  the  heart  of  Chicago. 

Within  a  few  paces  of  this  central  intersection,  a  lot 
for  the  erection  of  a  mammoth  department  store  was 
sold  in  1904  at  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  front  foot. 
At  the  same  time,  one  mile  due  west  from  that  point, 
one  could  scarcely  "give  property  away"  at  three  hun- 
dred dollars  the  front  foot. 

Whole  sections  which  only  a  few  years  ago  were  built 

337 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

up  with  palatial  homes  of  the  wealthy  have  become  the 
rendezvous  of  business  and  industry. 

This  transformation  of  property  in  large  cities  is. 
under  any  circumstances,  more  or  less  inevitable;  but 
it  is  grossly  extravagant  and  uneconomic.  Such  whole- 
sale slaughter  of  values,  although  restored  in  transfer 
to  other  usage,  has  no  economic  advantage.  The  remedy 
for  this  and  nearly  every  other  form  of  property  abuse 
lies  in  the  establishment  of  a  proper  zoiiingsystem. 
American  cities  are  slow  to  realize  that  the  proper  build- 
ing of  cities  rests  upon  a  feasible  and  orderly  plan  for 
the  distribution  of  business,  industrial,  and  residential 
sections.  The  establishment  and  maintenance  of  build- 
ing lines  —  a  common  matter  of  abuse  under  the  lack 
of  a  zoning  system  —  would  also  be  regulated  by  such  a 
measure.  Enormous  property  loss  would  thus  be  saved 
and  the  cit3;-'s  attractiveness  materially  enhanced  and 
made  permanent. 

The  loss  through  such  methods  as  have  been  described 
would  be  looked  upon  as  an  economic  crime  of  the  first 
magnitude  by  European  cities  where  the  reverse  policy 
is  practiced. 

In  Europe  the  tenements  or  poorly  developed  districts 
in  the  large  cities  are  frequently  turned  into  centers  of 
intensive  development;  or  better  still  are  taken  over  for 
parks.  This  was  notably  the  case  in  Paris  where,  a.  few 
years  ago,  the  French  capital  purchased  from  the  gov- 
ernment the  old  fortification  site,  which  constituted  an 
inner  belt  of  tenements,  at  a  cost  of  twenty  million  dol- 
lars. This  newly  acquired  acreage  was  added  to  the 
city's  park  area.     About  four  thousand  acres  was  thus 

338 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

transformed  from  a  district  of  wretched  hovels  into  a 
beauty  tract  of  health-giving  breathing  space  where  it 
was  most  needed. 

The  thickly  scattered  small  and  beautiful  central 
parks,  squares,  and  open  spaces  of  the  European  cities, 
interlinked  with  spacious,  wooded  avenues,  give  to  them 
their  deserved  fame  for  beauty  and  convenience. 

The  large  number  of  diagonal  thoroughfares  there 
also  have  their  advantage  other  than  rapid  and- con- 
venient transportation.  The  small  triangles  of  property 
left" 'at~'the  intersections  contain  beautiful  statues  or 
fountains,  making  the  city  a  veritable  art  galler}^  of 
interest  and  inspiration  to  the  passing  multitudes. 

In  the  United  States,  for  these  attractions,  one  must 
betake  himself  to  the  parks,  beautiful  of  themselves  and 
requiring  no  additional  embellishment  of  statues  of  the 
past's  great. 

In  the  Old-World  cities,  it  is  discovered,  too,  that  the 
property  of  desirable  size  at  the  intersections  of  diagonal 
streets  is  ideal  for  monumental  buildings  —  useful  to  a 
high  degree  and  artistic  beyond  possibility  in  shut-in 
places. 

Added  to  Chicago's  misfortunes  in  not  planning  early 
enough,  big  enough,  and  according  to  a  scientific  plan, 
the  railways  were  allowed  to  encroach  upon  the  city's 
center  until  thirty-five  per  cent  of  the  entire  central 
section  is  occupied  with  approach  and  switch  tracks 
and  terminals  —  both  freight  and  passenger. 

What  a  situation  of  disorder,  confusion,  and  conse- 
quent inconvenience  and  poor  development  this  has 
caused,   although   indescribable,   can  be   somewhat   im- 

339 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

agined,  when  it  is  known  that  there  are  twenty-seven 
trunk  Hnes  of  railways  terminating  in  Chicago;  that 
whole  sections  a  mile  long  and  half  a  mile  wide,  a  stone's 
throw  from  the  city's  business  hub,  have  been  blotted 
out  by  railway  occupancy;  that,  of  the  city's  nineteen 
platted  east  and  west  and  north  and  south  streets,  only 
eleven  traverse  the  center,  the  others  having  been 
blocked  or  cut  off  by  the  railway  tracks ;  then  it  will  be 
realized  what  a  menace  the  ''  roads "  have  been  to  the 
proper  physical  development  of  the  city.  No  such  sit- 
uation obtains  in  any  other  city  in  the  world.  It  is 
equally  true  and  of  advantage  that  no  such  railway 
center  exists  elsewhere  in  the  world. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  push  the  improvement  of 
any  of  the  main  street  plans  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago 
without  encountering  almost  insurmountable  obstacles 
and  objections  on  the  part  of  the  railway  property  or 
ownership. 

This  situation  of  the  railways  has  no  advantage  either 
to  the  roads'  owners  or  the  public  that  could  not  be  had 
and  multiplied  under  a  readjustment  of  their  location. 
It  has,  on  the  other  hand,  disadvantage  to  the  welfare 
of  the  city  of  incalculable  magnitude. 

The  situation  is  a  natural  one  in  a  city  which  has 
grown  with  kaleidoscopic  and  Titanic  strides  as  Chicago 
has. 

Criticism  of  what  is  cannot  so  much  obtain  as  con- 
demnation for  what  is  not.  The  railways  have  had  their 
day  of  easy  resistance  and  it  has  been  a  great  day  for 
both  private  and  public  interests.  The  railways  with 
their  long  reaching  tentacles  and  colossal  business  have 

340 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

made  Chicago.  All  credit  must  be  given  that  fact  and 
their  part  in  the  wonderful  achievement.  Now,  how- 
ever, when  the  city  cries  for  relief  from  their  hemming 
in,  when  it  points  out  through  its  great  Plan  a  newer  and 
better  way  for  both,  the  roads  should  hear  that  cry 
and  make  haste  to  comply  with  its  demands.  If  this  is 
done  not  too  slowly,  this  seeming  hardship  to  them,  to 
begin  with,  will  turn  out  to  be  a  blessing  in  disguise. 

Hope  for  the  deplorable  railway  terminal  situation  in 
Chicago  was  expressed  in  a  statement  by  William  G. 
M'cAdoo,  ex-Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  ex-Director 
General  of  Railroads,  when  he  arrived  in  Chicago  on 
August  7,  19 1 8,  to  make  an  inspection  of  the  terminal 
situation.  The  director  general  was  reported  in  the 
public  press  to  have  declared  himself  at  that  time  in 
the  following  language : 

Not  because  I  happen  to  have  had  the  experience  of 
being  delayed  an  interminable  time  at  an  open  draw- 
bridge on  the  way  to  my  hotel,  but  because  of  my  ac- 
quaintance with  Chicago,  one_pf  the  city's  most  Yit?tl 
problems  is  readjustment  of  its  network  of  scattered  rail- 
road termiiials.  Such  a  readjustment,  would  literally 
open  the  throttle  for  the  maximum  development  of  this 
wonderful  city. 

The  diversity  of  railroad  lines  has  laid  down  certain 
bans,  it  cannot  be  denied,  which  nov.'  do  hamper  and  inter- 
fere with  the  proper  development  which  this  energetic 
city  is  all  but  bursting  to  make. 

Chicago  must  have  centraHzed  terminals  if  it  is  going 
to  have  adequate  room  for  its  civic  life  to  breathe. 

We  are  going  to  do  all  we  can  to  aid  the  people  of 
Chicago  in  having  railroad  service  which  will  most  bene- 
fit all  of  them  in  every  way. 

341 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Ex-Secretary  McAdoo  showed  familiarity  with  the 
plans  tentatively  outlined  by  the  Chicago  Railway  Term- 
inal Commission.    The  report  stated: 

It  is  known,  that  he  opposed  congressional  action  in 
putting  a  limit  of  twenty-eight  months  on  governmental 
control  after  the  war  —  a  stipulation  written  in  the  law 
by  which  the  railroads  were  taken  over.  He  did  it  in 
order  that  just  such  corrections  as  are  contemplated  for 
Chicago  might  be  worked  out  by  the  government  even 
if  the  roads  later  must  again  be  surrendered  to  private 
ownership. 

Mr.  McAdoo  was  reported  on  that  subject: 

Of  course  the  future  fate  of  the  railroads  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  people,  but  if  the  government  could  as- 
suredly carry  out  any  unification  plans  here  there  would 
be  little  difficulty;  and  if  the  government  could  only  make 
a  beginning,  with  the  probability  of  having  to  turn  the 
railroads  back  to  the  private  owners,  it  would  require 
ages  to  bring  about  agreements  which  would  allow  such 
an  improvement  as  Chicago  needs,  because  the  rights  of 
each  individual  road  would  have  to  be  safeguarded  in 
such  agreements. 

Without  regard  to  the  final  outcome  of  the  question, 
"Who  shall  control  the  railroads  in  the  future?"  the 
ex-secretary's  knowledge  of  the  Chicago  situation,  as 
elsewhere  throughout  the  country,  should  operate  favor- 
ably in  the  matter  of  proper  railroad  development.  Cer- 
tainly the  Great  War  showed  more  glaringly  than  any 
other  factor  could  possibly  do  the  woefully  inadequate 
terminal  facilities  of  the  railroads.  Even  under  the 
control  of  the  government  and  the  merging  of  all  rail- 

342 


Chicago.     Typical   freight  yards.     Seventeen  hundred  switcliing 

engines  alone  are  used  in  the  freight  and  coach  yards  and 

forty  thousand  freight  cars  are  daily  handled,  enough 

in  a  straight  line  to  stretch  from  Chicago  to 

Cincinnati. 


5  '.  '   '■■'■=!•'=■  ri'-  lilt n  5  ilijis   I  |ij§i  5J|||  <  t  f "  ', 


Chicago.     Central  district  showing  how  one-third  of  this  intensive 
business  area  is  absorbed  by  railroad  occupancy. 


Of  fHE 

UNivERsiry  or  ilunoi.^ 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

road  lines  and  facilities  under  that  control,  great  hard- 
ships were  entailed  upon  the  people  in  coal  and  foodstuff 
shortage  and  manufacturing  supplies,  partly  due  to  in- 
sufficient cars  and  inadequate  terminal  facilities. 

The  Plan  of  Chicago  has  for  its  prime  object  the  mak- 
ing ^C){_^c£ntrA\\zeA_j:\tv_l^^  street 
system.  Its  secondary  objects,  but  of  primary  import- 
ance, are  the  readjustment  of  its  railway  facilities  and 
the  safeguarding  of  the  public  health  through  the  ac- 
quisition of  sufficient  park  area  conveniently  located  for 
all  the  people. 

Such  a  plan  is  at  once  highly  practical  and  altogether 
desirable,  and  cannot  work  a  hardship  on  *any  interest 
or  class.  In  its  wake  there  can  follow  only  marked 
benefit  and  attractive  and  orderly  development. 

Commercially,  city  planning  has  to  do  with  the  regu- 
lar arrangement  of  streets  within  the  city.  Its  aim 
is  to  save  time  and  effort  in  traffic  between  the  various 
sections.  Socially,  city  planning  has  to  do  with  adequate 
provision  for  the  public  health.  This  is  gained  through 
the  best  location  of  parks  and  playgrounds  and  the  open- 
ing to  light  and  air  of  crowded  housing  districts. 

A  proper  city  plan  is  the  fovmdation  for  all  social 
and  commercial  advance.  For  people  to  remain  healthy 
and  happy,  they  must  have  proper  houses  in  which  to 
live.  Adequate  street  facilities  affect  the  housing  prob- 
lem, as  people  must  be  able  to  go  quickly  and  easily  to 
and  from  their  homes  and  places  of  business. 
_ The,  Plan  of  Chicago  solves  these  vital  problems  _of_ 
congestion,  traffic,  and  public  health.  The  completion 
of  the  Plan  will  do  away  with  crowding  in  the  city  and 

343 


y^'^ 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

its  streets  and  so  promote  the  health  and  happiness  of 
all.  It  will  make  tratfic  more  convenient,  and  so  make 
it  easier  and  cheaper  to  carry  on  business.  Thus  the 
wealth  of  the  city  and  of  its  people  will  increase  more 
rapidly  than  would  otherwise  be  possible.  The  Plan  will 
give  Chicago  more  and  larger  parks  and  playgrounds 
and  better  and  lighter  streets.  Hence  the  whole  people 
will  be  more  healthy  and  better  able  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  great  city. 

Authorities  who  have  studied  city  growth  for  years 
state  that  the  movement  of  mankind  toward  cities  has 
only  started.  They  say  that  it  is  sure  to  continue  with 
increasing  force  for  many  years  to  come.  Other  men  of 
science  have  devoted  their  lives  to  study  of  the  effect  of 
city  life  upon  humanity.  They  declare  that  the  physical 
condition  of  city  dwellers  is  rapidly  declining  in  com- 
parison with  that  of  those  who  live  in  the  country. 
Everyone  realizes  that  city  life  is  more  intense  and 
nerve  straining  than  out-of-door  country  life.  City  life 
saps  the  energy  of  men  and  makes  them  less  efficient. 
The  remedy  for  this  lies  in  providing  increased  means 
of  open-air  recreation,  better  sanitation  in  city  houses, 
and  more  light  and  air  in  city  streets. 

The  Plan  of  Chicago  provides  for  complying  with 
this  imperative  demand.  It  forms  the  foundation  upon 
v>hich  proper  recreation  facilities  may  be  supplied  where 
they  are  essential.  Sufficient  park  area  in  a  great  city 
is  the  thing  most  necessary  next  to  convenient  and 
orderly  street  arrangement.  As  the  only  means  of 
avoiding  civic  disaster  due  to  haphazard  growth,  Chi- 
cago has  entered  upon  its  big  constructive  task  of  carry- 

344 


THE  PLAN  OF  CFIICAGO 

ing  out  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  This  general  Plan  with  its 
two  hundred  miles  of  street  improvements,  its  parks  and 
playground  sites,  and  its  magnilicent  development  of  the 
shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  is  fundamentally  hygienic  and 
humanitarian. 

The  Plan  of  Chicago  provides  for  the  easy  movement 
of  traffic  by  widening  and  extending  existing  streets,  by 
cutting  new  ones,  and  by  properly  connecting  all 
thoroughfares.  It  proposes  also  parks  and  playgrounds 
in  each  section  of  the  city.  It  suggests  a  superb  sys- 
tem of  water-front  parks,  lagoons,  driveways,  harbors, 
and  pleasure  piers  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan. 
It  contains  suggestions  for  the  improvement  of  the  Chi- 
cago River,  especially  along  its  banks.  It  provides  for 
adequate  transportation  facilities,  including  the  proper 
location  of  freight  and  passenger  terminals  and  for  the 
location  of  the  west  side  post-office  and  other  public 
buildings.  The  Plan  of  Chicago  contemplates  the  crea- 
tion of  a  five-mile  course  for  rowing  regattas,  a  course 
for  interiTational  motor-boat  races  along  the  city's  shore 
line  between  Grant  and  Jackk^n  parks,  and  many  large 
bathing  beaches.  Inland  it  proposes  a  vast  system  of 
good  roads  encircling  and  radiating  from  the  city.  These 
would  give  convenient  access  between  the  city  and  the 
magnificent  system  of  outer  parks  or  forest  preserves 
being  created  just  beyond  the  city  limits  on  all  sides. 

Two  other  questions  of  large  public  importance  are 
closely  allied  to  the  work  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commis- 
sion. One  is  the  question  of  proper  housing  of  the 
people  in  the  congested  districts,  and  the  other  is  that  of 
dmding;^the„city  into  districts.     In  one  kind  of  district 

345 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

only  residences  would  be  allowed,  in  another  only  fac- 
tories and  industries,  and  in  a  third  only  commerce  and 
business.  This  is  known  as  "zoning"  or  "districting" 
the  city.  To  both  these  important  questions  the  com- 
mission is  giving  thought  and  aid.  It  believes,  how- 
ever, that  they  deserve  the  exclusive  attention  of  speci- 
ally created  organizations. 

There  is  growing  love  for  good  order  in  our  cities 
due  to  advance  in  city  planning  education.  We  all  know 
that  we  would  not  allow  today  in  our  cities  such  con- 
ditions as  we  are  told  were  usual  in  the  days  of  our 
fathers.  We  may  well  believe,  then,  that  the  people  of 
the  future  will  not  tolerate  such  conditions  as  surround 
us  in  our  cities  today. 

We  are  learning  new  lessons  in  municipal  economy, 
in  hygiene,  and  in  city  government.  We  are  learning 
that  means  and  methods  of  time,  labor,  and  health  sav- 
ing are  valuable  to  a  city.  We  are  learning  that  attrac- 
tive surroundings  encourage  good  morals.  We  are  learn- 
ing more  and  more  every  day  the  things  that  are  neces- 
sary to  promote  good  conditions  within  cities.  We  are 
every  day  making  larger  demands  upon  the  cities,  and 
we  realize  that  our  responsibihties  and  duties  as  city 
dwellers  grow  greater  and  greater  every  day. 

Municipal  economy  is  of  prime  importance.  Lack  of 
good  order  and  extravagance  go  hand  in  hand.  These 
have  been  the  rule  of  American  cities  everywhere. 

The  average  citizen  in  America  has  been  inclined  in 
the  past  to  take  his  duties  as  a  citizen  lightly.  He  was 
just  as  likely  as  not  to  stay  ciWRj  from  the  polls  unless 
an  important  election  was  being  held.     The  citizen  who 

346 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

fails  to  give  his  time  and  attention  to  the  important  duty 
of  studying  and  voting  in  favor  of  worthy  city  planning 
projects  docs  not  deserve  to  enjoy  the  advantages  such 
improvements  hold  out  in  his  interests. 

In  Chicago,  in  the  twenty-five  years  ending  with  1906, 
more  than  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  million  dollars 
were  spent  for  extraordinary  betterments  and  improve- 
ments. This  colossal  sum  affords  startling  evidence  of 
what  might  have  been  accomplished  toward  the  realiza- 
tion of  a  plan  such  as  is  now  being  worked  out  had  the 
city  adopted  an  official  plan  a  generation  ago. 

Similar  examples  apply  in  other  cities.  Nothing 
should  so  move  the  city  dweller  and  the  authorities  to 
action  for  a  scientific  plan  as  do  such  simple  facts. 

How  crestfallen  and  chagrined  a  man  \yould  be  if 
he  erected  a  twenty  story  building  without  a  plan  and 
no  estimate  of  cost,  if  such  a  thing  w^ere  possible,  only 
to  find,  when  it  was  finished,  that  he  had  an  ungainly 
and  unsafe  building  and  that,  for  the  money  it  cost  him, 
he  could  have  had  a  fine,  permanent,  and  safe  structure, 
if  he  had  built  according  to  the  best  plan. 

This  is  exceedingly  elementary,  of  course,  but  the 
greatest  truths  are  demonstrated  by  elementary  facts 
and  the  greatest  wrongs  are  often  cured  by  the  simplest 
means.  Such  object  lessons  do  not  require  overmuch 
elaboration.     They  require  only  application. 

The  park  plans  in  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  in  addition  to 
reclaiming  two  thousand  acres  of  submerged  lands  along, 
the  Lake  Front,   provide  for  interior  parks  and  play- 
grounds and  twenty-one  thousand  acres  of  forest  pre- 
serves, half  of  which  have  been  acquired. 

347 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

The  foundation  of  the  street  system  is  a  quadrangle 
bounding  a  three  mile  square  of  the  city's  center.  The 
four  streets  comprising  it  are  being  widened  and  other- 
wise improved  to  make  a  great  "clearing  house"  for 
traffic  around  the  heart  of  the  city,  instead  of  being 
forced  to  go  through  it.  Another  similar  circuit  is  de- 
signed for  the  sqtiare  a  mile  distant  from  the  quadrangle, 
and  diagonal  streets  are  planned  to  converge  in  the  civic 
center  and  on  a  central  axis  east  and  west.  Other  diago- 
nal streets  are  planned  for  the  convenient  adjustment  of 
crosstown  traffic  and  for  the  proper  connection  of  the 
outlying  centers. 

The  railways,  it  is  planned,  shall  be  housed  in  three 
units  instead  of  six  as  at  present.  The  eastern  roads, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Pennsylvania,  and  the  southern 
roads,  are  to  terminate  in  the  Illinois  Central  Station 
at  Twelfth  Street,  on  the  Lake  Front.  A  magnificent 
new  station,  sufficient  for  fifty  years,  is  planned  to  care 
for  these.  The  western  roads,  as  well  as  the  Pennsyl- 
vania from  the  East,  will  terminate  in  the  splendid  new 
west  side  station,  ordinances  for  which  already  have 
been  granted.  Work  on  this  terminal,  at  Canal  Street 
and  Jackson  Boulevard,  was  held  up  on  account  of  the 
war.  The  Northwestern  road  is  to  remain  as  the  sole 
occupant  of  its  fine  new  station  two  blocks  to  the  north. 
Between  these  two  terminals,  where  is  handled  sixty- 
two  per  cent  of  the  city's  mail,  a  two-block  post-office 
site  has  been  selected  for  a  badly  needed  new  central  post- 
office.  The  purchase  of  this  site  was  voted  by  the 
House,  but  the  war  sent  the  appropriation  bill  to  the 
Senate  wastebasket. 


Charlottenburg,  Germany,  a  suburb  of  Berlin,  an  excellent  example 
of  the  value  of  diagonal  streets  in  a  large  city. 


London.     Oxford   Circus.     London   abounds   in   diagonal   street 

centers. 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

This  arrangement,  which  will  permanently  remove 
the  Polk  Street,  La  Salle  Street,  and  Harrison  Street 
stations,  wall  open  up  four  extremely  important  north 
and  south  streets  to  public  use  through  the  "closed" 
railway  area.  It  will  also  admit  of  the  straightening  of 
the  river  for  nearly  a  mile  from  Polk  to  Sixteenth  Street. 
This  greatly  needed  improvement  will  materially  increase 
property  values  in  that  section  and  will  make  possible 
several  new  street  openings.  This  project  and  the  rail- 
way terminal  matters  are  being  worked  out  by  the 
Chicago  Railway  Terminal  Commission,  the  appointment 
of  which  was  recommended  to  the  City  Council  by  the 
Plan  Commission  and  a  body  of  public-spirited  citizens. 

The  removal  of  Chicago's  famous  South  Water  Street 
produce  market,  which  now  entirely  absorbs  that  im- 
portant street  and  likewise  impedes  traffic  on  a  number 
of  main  north-and-south  streets  into  the  central  section, 
is  being  pushed  by  the  Plan  Commission.  It  is  to  be  re- 
claimed for  public  use  and  improved  on  the  two-level 
plan.  Its  connection  with  the  widened  and  extended 
Michigan  Avenue  v^^ill  complete  the  inner  quadrangle  for 
the  easement  of  traffic  in  the  heart  of  the  city. 

It  was  pointed  out  by  the'TPIan  "Commission  that  the 
improvement  of  South  Water  Street,  according  to  its 
plans  would  save  the  city  five  million  dollars  annually  — 
enough  to  pay  for  the  entire  improvement  in  a  single 
year.  Such  study  and  work  is  of  the  utmost  value  to 
any  city  fortunate  enough  to  have  a  good  plan,  a  live 
commission  and  wade-awake  city  authorities. 

In  Chicago  there  is  a  tacit  understanding  with  the  city 
authorities  that  no  major  public  improvements  shall  be 

349 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

started  by  the  city  before  they  are  submitted  to  the  Plan 
Commission   for  adjustment  to   the  Plan   of   Chicago. 
Through-'thts   wise  provision,  proper  planning-_ot . tlje^^ 
city's  future  is  made  doubly  sure. 

Actual  work  on  the  Plan  by  The  commission,  since  its 
appointment  in  1909,  includes  a  start  by  the  city  on  a 
number  of  the  most  important  projects.  These  are  the 
carrying  out  of  the  entire  inner  quadrangle;  one  of  the 
most  important  diagonal  streets  —  Ogden  Avenue  —  to 
connect  Union  Park  on  the  west  side  with  Lincoln  Park 
on  the  north  Lake  Front ;  the  widening  of  two  principal 
west  side  streets;  a  start  on  the  Lake  Front  plans;  the 
purchasing  of  over  twelve  thousand  acres  of  forest  pre- 
serves by  the  County  Commission;  the  selection  of  the 
west  side  post-office  site;  the  erection  of  the  Field  Mu- 
seum of  Natural  History  on  the  downtown  Lake  Front; 
a  start  on  the  outer  highway  system  to  connect  the  forest 
preserves  and  the  suburban  towns  with  Chicago  and 
Lake  Michigan ;  the  building  of  the  west  side  railway 
terminals ;  and  many  other  improvements  such  as  bridge 
approaches  and  new  bridges.  Several  lesser  recommen- 
dations by  the  commission  are  either  a  matter  of  record 
or  have  been  carried  out.  All  of  these  improvements 
were  either  under  way  or  far  advanced  in  procedure  in 
1918.  Dififerent  public  bodies  have  had  a  part  in  the 
actual  work. 

In  191 2  Daniel  Hudson  Burnham,  father  of  the  Plan 
of  Chicago,  died  in  Heidelburg,  Germany,  where  he 
went  to  recover  his  health.  He  lived  to  witness  only 
the  initial  steps  in  the  execution  of  the  plan  for  w'iden- 
ing  Twelfth  Street,  the  first  work  on  his  plan.     No  suit- 

350  . 


THE  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 

able  memorial  of  his  name  and  work  has  yet  been  under- 
taken by  the  people  of  Chicago,  upon  whom  he  conferred 
so  great  a  thing  —  the  best  of  his  remarkable  genius  — 
given  in  such  form  as  will  not  only  bless  those  of  his 
own  generation  but  will  incalculably  benefit  the  coming 
generation. 

The  greatest  world  workers  are  those  who  conceive, 
plan,  and  execute  something  of  far-reaching  importance 
to  posterity. 

Posterity  may  honor  Burnham's  life  and  name  and  so 
redeem  the  yet  unpaid  debt.  That  is  often  the  way  of 
the  world.  Perhaps  it  is  best,  too,  that  nothing  has  yet 
been  done.  The  developments  of  time  clarify  perspec- 
tive and  kindle  appreciation.  When  this  happens  Burn- 
ham  will  come  into  his  own. 

A  suitable  start  in  the  right  direction  was  made  by  the 
Plan  Commission  shortly  after  Burnham's  death  when 
it  proposed  that  the  great  Lake  Front  park,  between  Grant 
and  Jackson  parks,  should  be  named  Burnham  Park. 
Thus  will  the  name  of  the  great  architect  —  creator  of 
the  Plan  of  Chicago,  executant  of  the  World's  Colum- 
bian Exposition,  world-renowned  city  planner  —  be  for- 
ever linked  with  the  names  of  two  of  the  nation's  most 
illustrious  patriots  whose  greatest  deeds,  like  his  own, 
were  for  humanity  and  succeeding  generations. 


351 


CHAPTER  XV 
America's  greatest  city  planning  board  —  its 

WORK 

CHICAGO  is  the  best  organized  city  in  the  United 
States.  "" 

The  best  description  of  the  value  of  organization  I 
have  ever  heard  was  uttered  by  Richard  C.  Hall,  the 
third  president  of  The  Chicago  Association  of  Com- 
merce. Someone  said  to  him,  "  Hall,  what  is  your  asso- 
ciation doing?"  Promptly  came  the  reply,  "Well,  we 
are  organized."  What  tremendous  significance  there  is 
in  that  statement — ^"We  are  organized."  Chicago's 
civic  organizations  do  not  merely  wish  things  —  they 
DO  things. 

The  Chicago  Plan  Commission,  like  certain  other  of 
Chicago's  public  welfare  bodies,  has  no  equal  in  the 
United  States  either  in  its  form  of  organization  or  its 
accomplishments.  This  is  recognized  and  understood 
throughout  the  nation  wherever  city  planning  is  worthy 
of  the  name. 

The  effectiveness  of  an  organization  for  the  public 
good  depends  not  so  much  upon  its  numbers  as  upon 
the  form  of  its  organization,  the  character  of  its  per- 
sonnel and  especially  upon  its  executive  head  and  its 
executive  committee.  Every  city  has  its  Association  of 
Commerce,  but  no  organization  of  this  character  in  the 

352 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

United  States  has  so  unique  and  potent  a  formation  as 
The  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce.  Its  great  strength 
and  the  international  reputation  it  enjoys  are  derived 
from  the  very  remarkable  manner  in  which  it  is  organ- 
ized and  the  way  in  which  it  conducts  its  work.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission.  These 
two  civic  bodies  are  preeminently  outstanding  in  the 
nation  for  their  influence  upon  local  and  national  prob- 
lems—  for  the  tilings  they  undertake  to  do  and  the  way 
these  are  done. 

Before  all  this,  of  course,  was  the  appointment  by  the 
mayor  of  Chicago  and  the  City  Council,  of  the  commis- 
sion's membership,  which  numbered  three  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  citizens.  Here  is  where  the  real  genius 
and  wisdom  of  organization  was  displayed.  It  was  de- 
duced that  a  plan  for  the  whole  city  and  all  elements  in 
it  should  be  studied  and  promoted  by  a  thoroughly  rep- 
resentative body  of  the  entire  citizenry  of  the  city. 
And  so  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission  was  made  up  of 
the  leaders  in  every  walk  of  life  —  industrial,  commer- 
cial, financial,  educational,  religious,  and  political ;  the 
executive  heads  of  all  the  leading  civic  bodies;  the  heads 
of  other  governmental  bodies;  citizens  of  every  section 
of  the  city;  prominent  men  of  all  nationalities;  leaders 
of  thought  and  action,  private  and  public,  in  the  city's 
life;  a  score  or  more  of  the  more  active  men  in  The 
Commercial  Club;  and,  to  start  right  at  the  very  be- 
ginning so  that  the  city  authorities  and  the  citizens 
would  work  together  in  unison  and  full  comprehension 
of  the  Plan  projects  to  be  undertaken,  the  remainder  of 
the  commission's  membership  was  made  up  of  one  alder- 

353 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

mail  from  each  of  the  thirty-five  wards  and  of  the  heads 
of  the  city  departments,  with  the  mayor  acting  as  hon- 
orary president.  It  is  clear  at  a  glance  that  such  an 
organization  was  eminently  capable  of  determining  what 
work  should  be  undertaken,  when  to  undertake  it,  and 
how  to  present  it  to  all  of  the  people  for  their  approval. 
Ex-Mayor  Busse's  address  to  the  City  Council  when 
he  appointed  the  Plan  Commission  was  an  extraordinary 
utterance.  It  will  stand  out  in  future  years  as  the  most 
important  message  ever  delivered  to  the  public  by  a 
Chicago  mayor.  In  the  decades  to  come  the  eyes  of  the 
nation  will  be  riveted  upon  Chicago  and  its  wonderful 
development  according  to  its  glorious  Plan.  The  Chi- 
cago Plan  will  be  talked  about  in  the  capitals  of  the 
civilized  world  just  as  all  city  planners  and  travelers  in 
America  now  discuss  the  Paris  Plan,  and  centuries  be- 
fore that,  the  work  of  Pericles,  and  centuries  before 
that,  the  remarkable  city  building  of  the  Babylonians. 
The  destiny  of  Chicago  is  prophetic.  The  die  is  cast, 
the  Chicago  Plan  Commission  is  at  work,  many  of  its 
great  Plan  projects  have  been  begun.  Neither  war,  nor 
pestilence,  nor  panic,  nor  time  will  efface  what  is  started 
or  prevent  the  ultimate  fulfilment  of  what  is  proposed. 
City  administrations  will  change;  men  of  power  will 
come  and  go;  old  Plan  war-horses  will  fall  by  the  way- 
side and  new  ones  will  take  their  places ;  delays  will 
occur  and  setbacks  will  overtake  the  Plan;  the  people 
will  become  impatient  and  will  grow  discouraged;  dis- 
agreements will  take  place  and  will  be  adjusted ;  faults 
will  be  found  and  remedied ;  the  war  and  reconstruction 
period  will  cause  hardships  and  delays;  the  world  will 

354' 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD       ' 

lift  its  head  from  the  agonizing  blood  of  its  milHons 
with  new  hope  and  courage  in  that  day  when  coopera- 
tion and  not  strife  will  be  the  watchword  of  all  peoples; 
and  through  all  these  the  Plan  of  Chicago  will  continue 
to  thread  its  way  to  its  ultimate  fulfilment.  Then  it  will 
come  to  pass  that  Chicago  will  be  known  in  the  two 
hemispheres  as  the  "  wonder  city." 

Resolutely  the  people  have  stamped  their  approval 
upon  the  fundamental  projects  in  their  great  Plan. 
What  was  once-  the  "  Burnham  Plan,"  the  "  Commercial 
Club  Plan"  and  the  "Wacker  Plan  Commission  Plan," 
the  citizens  of  Chicago  now  know  is  their  Plan  and  all 
the  world  knows  that  what  the  people  of  Chicago  want 
done  WILL  be  done.  Ex-Mayor  Busse  said  to  the  Plan 
Commission  and  through  it  to  the  citizens  of  Chicago : 

If  Chicago  is  to  become,  as  we  all  believe,  the  greatest 
and  most  attractive  city  of  the  continent,  its  development 
should  be  guided  along  certain  definite  and  prearranged 
lines.  The  Plan  of  Chicago  is  a  basis;  it  is  not  a  hard 
and  fast  plan;  it  is  to  be  developed  in  whole  or  in  part 
as  the  best  judgment  of  the  community  may  determine. 
It  is  not  a  scheme  for  spending  untold  millions  but,  on 
the  contrary,  in  the  course  of  years  it  will  pay  for  itself 
by  spending  the  money  which  must  be  spent  anyway  for 
improvements,  but  spending  it  in  accordance  with  a  scien- 
tific plan.  It  fits  in,  with  all  the  plans  of  the  various 
public  bodies  and  utilities.  It  is  not  an  artist's  dream  or 
the  project  of  theoretical  city  beautifiers  who  have  lost 
sight  of  everyday  affairs  and  who  have  forgotten  the 
needs  of  the  people.  The  artistic  has  been  blended  with 
the  hygienic,  the  industrial  and  the  commercial,  along 
lines  which  promise  the  best  results  at  the  least  expendi- 
ture of  time,  effort,  and  money.    The  sooner  comprehen- 

355 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

sive  planning  and  building  are  undertaken,  die  more 
quickly  will  results  be  accomplished  and  the  less  they  will 
cost.  The  Plan  of  Chicago  represents  the  best  effort  of 
the  best  city  planning  talent  in  America  supplemented  by 
the  concentrated  judgment  of  practical  business  men.  To 
secure  stability  in  the  chairmanship  of  the  Plan  Com- 
mission and  to  keep  it  unaffected  by  the  frequent  changes 
among  the  holders  of  public  ofhce  as  well  as  to  recognize 
tireless  and  patriotic  devotion  to  Chicago  I  have  named 
as  chairman  Charles  H.  Wacker,  a  leader  in  the  Plan 
movement,  who  is  a  member  of  The  Commercial  Club. 

Three  days  after  ex-Mayor  Busse's  address,  on  No- 
vember 4,  1909,  the  first  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Plan 
Commission  was  held  in  the  City  Council  Chamber.  A 
big  and  enthusiastic  number  of  the  commissioners  were 
present  to  plan  the  first  step  and  to  listen  to  Chairman 
Wacker  say: 

The  duty  which  has  been  imposed  upon  us  is  to  take 
up  this  question  to  the  end  that  the  whole  city  and  all 
elements  in  it  may  be  fully  informed  as  to  what  is  con- 
templated in  this  plan  for  the  future.  The  Plan  to  be 
adopted  by  this  commission  must  be  as  much  for  the 
benefit  of  the  great  west  side  as  for  the  north  side  or 
the  south  side.  It  must  comprehend  the  needs  of  every 
district  and  every  locality  from  Jefferson  to  West  Pull- 
man and  from  Hegewisch  to  Rogers  Park.  If  we,  during 
the  coming  years,  should  expend  no  more  on  civic  im- 
provements than  we  have  done  in  the  past,  but  if  we  make 
each  year's  work  fit  into  the  Plan  as  part  thereof,  w^e 
shall  finally  have  a  city  as  famous  for  its  beauty  as  it 
now  is  for  its  grit  and  energy.  We  must  take  the  people 
fully  into  our  confidence.  We  must  offer  them  a  feasible 
and  practical  plan.  We  must  explain  just  what  we  pro- 
pose doing  and  how  it  can  be  done.     We  must  prove  to 

356 


Stockholm.    European  cities  know  the  great  value  of  time-saving 
diagonal  streets. 


Paris.     Tlie  Place  de  la  Concorde.    This  square  is  one  of  the  L;reat 

circulatory  centers  placed  on  the  grand  axis  of  the  city 

(the  Champs-Elysees)  and  the  circuit  of  the 

Grand  Boulevard. 


UTRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSIiy  Of  iLUNOi 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

our  fellow-citizens  that  a  good  plan  systematically  and 
carefully  carried  out  will  be  a  commercial  asset  of  great 
value  and  will  make  our  city  more  habitable,  more  com- 
fortable and  healthier  for  ourselves  and  for  our  children. 
As  soon  as  the  citizens  of  Chicago  realize  the  full  im- 
portance of  these  advantages  we  may  safely  leave  it  to 
them  to  provide  ways  and  means  for  carrying  out  the 
Plan  in  its  full  scope. 

The  Chicago  Plan  Commission,  as  constituted,  is 
guided  in  many  of  its  activities  by  suggestions  from  its 
executive  committee  which  has  twenty-six  members  and 
of  which  the  chairman  of  the  commission  is  the  head. 
All  the  important  policies  of  the  commission  are  dis- 
cussed at  the  meetings  of  the  executive  committee  and 
at  its  sessions  are  reached  the  decisions  which  affect  and 
guide  the  progress  of  the  work  of  city  planning.  It  is 
the  policy  of  the  commission,  in  considering  the  various 
phases  of  its  work  in  relation  to  the  completed  plan  of 
the  future  city,  to  have  ample  discussion  at  its  sessions 
on  all  subjects  with  which  it  deals.  Its  members  being 
drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  city  and  representing  all  the 
great  divisions  of  trade,  manufacturing,  commerce,  and 
professional  effort  which  encompass  Chicago's  great- 
ness, the  commission'~Ts"pfoving  a  great  "  melting  pot " 
oTt^eas  of  civic  advance.  It  is  a  great  deliberative  body 
whose  policies,  once  decided,  can  be  relied  upon  as  the 
righ<  ones  because  they  represent  the  essential  of  the 
vital  elements  which  combine  to  produce  the  all-con- 
quering Chicago  spirit. 

During  the  eight  years  of  its  existence  up  to  the  close 
of  19 18,  the  commission  had  held  eighteen  meetings  and 

357 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

its  executive  committee  forty-two  meetings.  The  work 
mapped  out  and  adopted  at  these  was  prodigious  and 
obviated  the  necessity  of  more  frequent  sessions.  Its 
last  meeting  was  one  of  the  most  representative  and  en- 
thusiastic in  its  entire  history. 

The  Plan  Commission  believes  in  working,  not  meet- 
ing; in  action,  not  talking.  It  never  has  had  a  talkfest; 
it  does  not  indulge  in  jollifications ;  its  meetings  are  few 
but  deliberative  and  serious.  It  studies,  considers,  de- 
termines, and  it  relies  upon  its  officers  to  negotiate  its 
recommendations  with  the  city  authorities  and  the  pub- 
lic. This  requires  months,  sometimes  years,  on  a  single 
project ;  but  the  commission  holds  together  with  extraor- 
dinary fidelity  and  devotion  to  its  mission,  which  it 
has  come  to  know  as  one  of  time,  trust,  and  patience. 
It  realizes  that  the  "hit  and  run"  practice  of  certain 
baseball  players  will  not  avail ;  but  in  the  waiting  game 
practiced  by  others  it  sees  the  sure  road  to  accomplish- 
ment, and  it  neither  falters  nor  allows  itself  to  become 
fussy,  but  with  quiet  determination  it  plans  a  sure  strike 
where  and  when  it  will  be  tlie  most  effective  and  it  fol- 
lows up  this  practice.  The  members  of  the  Plan 
Commission  have  sensed  the  forceful  resistance  and  abso- 
lute determination  and  faith  of  their  chairman,  and  they 
deny  him  nothing  of  their  support,  cooperation,  and  en- 
couragement. 

The  offices  of  the  commission  are  not  sumptuous  and 
its  working  staff  is  not  large,  as  might  easily  be  im- 
agined. Its  consulting  architect,  Edward  H.  Bennett, 
occupies  a  sky  studio  on  the  roof  of  a  twenty  story 
building  on  Michigan  Avenue  w^here,  aided  by  a  bird's- 

358 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

eye  view  of  the  city,  he,  with  his  staff,  carries  on  the 
technical  work  of  the  commission.  The  promotional 
headquarters  are  situated  in  the  Hotel  Sherman  across 
the  street  from  the  City  Hall,  in  close  touch  with  the 
city's  business.  As  an  evidence  of  the  cooperation  of 
the  people  of  Chicago  with  the  commission  and  bearing 
on  its  work,  no  better  example  is  afforded  than  that  of 
the  patriotic,  public-spirited  proprietors  of  the  Hotel 
Sherman,  who  have  for  years  provided  the  commission 
with  practically  free  permanent  working  quarters  in  its 
splendid  hostelry. 

The  successful  efforts  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commis- 
sion reflect  the  financial  backing  of  public-spirited  citi- 
zens plus  such  assistance  as  the  city  could  render.  The 
Commercial  Club  members  have  subscribed  $303,100.00 
in  promoting  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  The  city's  entire 
appropriation  to  the  Plan  Commission,  in  contrast  with 
that  sum,  has  been  $99,190.22. 

The  Commercial  Club  subscribed  $85,000  for  original 
work  on  the  Plan.  This  sum  was  for  the  actual  crea- 
tion of  a  technical  plan  and  for  the  publication  of  the 
club's  magnificent  Plan  report.  When  the  commission 
was  appointed  by  the  City  Council  and  authorized  to 
study  and  promote  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  it  was  given  for 
that  purpose  only  $5,000.  Prior  to  its  appointment 
little  had  been  done  to  educate  the  public.  Its  appoint- 
ment caused  The  Commercial  Club  members  to  realize 
the  need  of  the  establishment  of  a  commission  head- 
quarters organized  to  promote  properly  the  Plan  and  it 
again  went  down  into  its  pockets  for  a  further  contribu- 
tion of  $95,000.     The  club  also  appropriated  $10,000 

359 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

per  annum  for  five  and  one-quarter  years  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  technical  staff.  Subsequently  the  city  has 
appropriated  sums  averaging  $15,000  per  annum  for 
the  entire  six  years.  At  the  end  of  the  fourth  year,  the 
commission's  funds  being  exhausted,  The  Commercial 
Club  members  subscribed  $43,000  for  another  two  years' 
work.  Late  in  1918,  the  commission  again  being  with- 
out funds.  The  Commercial  Club  subscribed  an  additional 
$30,000. 

The  total  appropriations  of  the  city  have  amounted, 
in  the  aggregate,  to  only  what  the  Plan  Commission  has 
expended  for  technical  service.  No  funds  whatever 
have  been  had  at  any  time  from  the  city  for  promotional 
or  educational  work. 

Distinguished  Chicagoans  and  members  of  The  Com- 
mercial Club  of  Chicago,  who  served  on  special  plan 
committees,  and  who  made  the  work  of  the  Plan  Com- 
mission possible  by  their  personal  financial  contributions 
to  public  service  were:  Arthur  T.  Aldis;  J.  Ogden  Ar- 
mour; Frank  H.  Armstrong;  Sewell  L.  Avery;  Edward 
E.  Ayer;  Alfred  L.  Baker;  Edgar  A.  Bancroft;  Adolphus 
C.  Bartlett;  J.  Harley  Bradley;  William  L.  Brown; 
Eugene  J.  Bufifington;  Leonard  A.  Busby;  Edward  B. 
Butler;  H.  M.  Byllesby;  Augustus  A.  Carpenter;  Benja- 
min Carpenter ;  Clyde  M.  Carr ;  Edward  F.  Carry ;  Leslie 
Carter  (deceased);  William  J.  Chalmers;  William  E. 
Clow;  Charles  H.  Conover  (deceased)  ;  Charles  R.  Cor- 
with  (deceased);  Alfred  Cowles;  Rensselaer  W.  Cox; 
Charles  R.  Crane;  R.  T.  Crane;  Joseph  M.  Cudahy;  J. 
J.  Dau;  Charles  G.  Dawes;  Rufus  C.  Dawes;  Frederic 
A.   Delano;   Albert  B.   Dick;  Thomas  E.   Donnelley; 

*  3^ 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

Albert  J.  Earling ;  Bernard  A.  Eckhart ;  Howard  Elting ; 
Francis  C.  Farwell ;  Granger  Farwell ;  John  V.  Farwell ; 
Henry  B.  Favill  (deceased);  Samuel  A.  Felton;  Louis 
A.  Ferguson ;  Stanley  Field ;  Edwin  G.  Foreman ;  David 
R.  Forgan ;  James  B.  Forgan ;  William  A.  Fuller ;  W. 
A,  Gardner ;  John  J.  Glessner ;  Richard  C.  Hall ;  Ernest 

A.  Hamill ;  Albert  W.  Harris ;  James  O.  Hey  worth ; 
Harlow  N.  Higinbotham ;  Hale  Llolden ;  James  L.  Llough- 
teling  (deceased);  Marvin  Hughitt;  E.  D.  Hulbert; 
Charles  H.  Hulburd;  Edward  N.  Hurley;  Charles  L. 
Hutchinson;  Samuel  Insull;  Frank  H.  Jones;  David  B. 
Jones ;  Chauncey  Keep ;  Roll  in  A.  Keyes ;  Robert  P.  La- 
mont;  Victor  F.  Lawson;  Thies  J.  Lefens  (deceased); 
Robert  T.  Lincoln;  Hugh  J.  McBirney;  Alexander  A. 
McCormick;  Cyrus  H.  McCormick;  Harold  F.  McCor- 
mick;  Medell  McCormick;  Hiram  R.  McCullough; 
Donald  R.  McLennan;  Franklin  MacVeagh;  Clayton 
Mark ;  C.  H,  Markham ;  Arthur  Meeker ;  George  Merry- 
weather;  John  J.  Mitchell;  Joy  Morton;  Mark  Morton; 
Charles  D.  Norton ;  LaVeme  W.  Noyes ;  Joseph  E.  Otis ; 
Clarence  S.  Pellet;  Charles  Piez;  John  T.  Pirie;  Allen 

B.  Pond;  Edwin  A.  Potter;  H.  H.  Porter;  Alexander 
H.  Revell ;  George  M.  Reynolds ;  Harrison  B.  Riley ;  Ed- 
ward P.  Ripley;  Theodore  W.  Robinson;  Julius  Rosen- 
wald;  Martin  A.  Ryerson;  John  W.  Scott;  John  G. 
Shedd;  James  Simpson;  Louis  A.  Seeberger;  Byron  L. 
Smith  (deceased);  Solomon  A.  Smith;  Walter  Byron 
Smith;  J.  A.  Spoor;  Albert  A.  Sprague  (deceased); 
Albert  A.  Sprague,  II;  Homer  A.  Still  well  (deceased); 
Charles  L.  Strobel ;  Bernard  E.  Sunny;  Edward  F.  Swift; 
Louis  F.  Swift;  Charles  H.  Thorne;  Robert  J.  Thorne; 

361 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Frederick  W.  Upham ;  Charles  H.  Wacker ;  Ezra  J.  \Var- 
ner :  Frank  O.  Wetmore ;  Arthur  D.  Wheeler  (deceased)  ; 
Harry  A.  Wheeler ;  John  E.  Wilder ;  Oliver  T.  Wilson ; 
Walter  H.  Wilson;  and  Wallace  C.  Winter. 

The  educational  propaganda  of  the  Chicago  Plan 
Commission  is  far-reaching.  Plan  accomplishments 
have  included  textbooks,  pamphlets,  illustrated  lectures, 
moving  pictures,  and  other  necessary  paraphernalia.  The 
Chicago  press  has  been  the  greatest  single  contributor  to 
publicity  and  the  most  effective,  but  this  invaluable  sup- 
port could  not  long  have  been  sustained  without  basic 
merit  in  Plan  procedure  or  meritorious  performance  by 
the  commission  itself. 

Chicago's  work  on  its  Plan  under  way  in  191 8  will 
culminate  in  construction  projects  which  when  complete 
will  amount  to  $150,000,000.  No  Chicagoan  who  knows 
has  any  doubt  of  the  wisdom  of  the  expenditure  of 
money  for  these  results.  This  large  sum  represents  only 
the  initial  cost  of  park,  street  transportation,  bridge, 
pleasure  pier,  and  public  building  projects.  It  does  not 
include  anything  for  the  rehabilitation  of  private  proper- 
ties affected  by  these  public  improvements,  which  cer- 
tainly will  be  an  enormous  item.  Besides,  other  vast 
improvement  projects  in  an  incipient  stage  are  not  in- 
cluded in  these  figures. 

An  event  of  historical  interest  and  importance  oc- 
curred on  the  evening  of  January  8,  1910,  of  great 
worth  in  promoting  the  work  of  the  newly  appointed 
Plan  Commission.  On  that  date  The  Commercial  Club 
of  Chicago  gave  a  dinner  in  honor  of  the  commission. 
The  general  subject  of  the  meeting  was,  "The  Presenta- 

362 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

tion  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago."  Speaking  on  this  subject, 
Theodore  W.  Robinson,  president  of  The  Commercial 
Club,  in  his  introductory  remarks,  said : 

This  meeting  is  to  commemorate  the  presentation  by 
The  Commercial  Club  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago  to  the 
citizens  of  Chicago.  The  Plan  is  Chicago's  message  to 
the  world  that  the  indomitable  energy  that  builded  Chi- 
cago in  a  generation  is  still  our  energy,  that  the  genius 
that  created  the  unrivaled  beauty  of  the  world's  greatest 
fair  is  still  our  genius  and,  above  all,  that  the  spirit  that 
has  made  progress  the  symbol  of  our  commercial  life 
has  stamped  "  I  Will "  upon  the  progress  of  our  civic  life. 

Other  remarkable  statements  made  at  this  dinner  will 
live  in  history.  "The  Broader  Aspects  of  City  Plan- 
ning" was  discussed  by  Charles  D.  Norton: 

Chicago  is  far  closer  in  spirit  to  the  great  territory 
which  it  dominates  than  is  Paris  or  London  or  New  York. 
Every  conceivable  geographical  area  has  its  metropolis  or 
capital  and,  of  that  territory  bound  on  the  east  by  the 
Appalachian  and  on  the  west  by  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
Chicago  is  more  truly  a  capital  than  she  ever  has  been. 
What  Chicago  plans  and  executes  will  determine  to  what 
extent  the  comfort,  pleasure,  and  pride  of  our  mighty  in- 
land empire  shall  be  satisfied.  A  hundred  million  of 
people  will  look  to  this  city  as  their  capital,  their  center 
in  which  to  trade,  to  hear  music,  to  see  pictures,  to  en- 
joy themselves.  This  places  a  high  responsibility  upon 
the  men  who  control  public  and  private  business  in  Chi- 
cago. They  have  instinctively  recognized  that  responsi- 
bility from  the  date  of  the  first  settlement  here.  This 
dinner  marks  a  great  event  in  our  civic  history,  for  the 
responsibility  for  the  development  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago 
passes   tonight  literally   into   the  hands  of   the  city  of 

.363 


IVHAT  OF  THE  CITY?" 

Chicago.  The  Chicago  Plan  Commission,  in  the  truest 
and  best  sense,  represents  the  people  of  this  city.  Public 
confidence  must  be  secured  ward  by  ward,  street  by 
street.  The  people  must  be  shown  what  the  Plan  of  Chi- 
cago means  to  them  so  that  there  may  be  had  an  irresist- 
ible public  opinion  behind  this  great  movement.  Upon 
recognition  of  this  great  opportunity  depends  to  a  large 
extent  the  respect  and  regard  not  merely  of  the  citizens 
of  Chicago  but  of  the  millions  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
who  are  thus  being  directly  served.  The  commission 
should  not  be  bound  in  its  vision  of  what  it  may  accom- 
plish by  anything  which  has  been  accomplished  in  the  past. 
The  Plan  of  Chicago  offers  a  closely  reasoned,  carefully 
studied,  well-balanced  solution  wdiich  provides  generously 
alike  for  all  of  the  community. 

A  more  statesman-like  utterance  would  be  hard  to 
find,  and  it  would  be  difificult  to  imagine  how  any  city 
could  adopt  a  better  gospel  for  a  city  planning  platform 
than  is  contained  in  this  inspiring  and  well-balanced 
argument. 

Bernard  W.  Snow,  closing  speaker  at  this  notable 
dinner,  as  if  to  give  added  measure  to  the  already 
brimming  cup  of  community  devotion,  painted  a  graphic 
and  enthusiastic  picture  of  Chicago's  present  and  future. 
He  said: 

Chicago  stands  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  Second  in  population  on  this  continent  and 
soon  to  be  first,  fourth  in  population  of  the  cities  of  the 
earth  and  to  be  first  within  the  lifetime  of  men  here  to- 
night, first  in  industrial  activities  and  the  financial  and 
commercial  center  of  an  area  larger,  more  productive,  and 
with  greater  potentialities  of  population  than  nations 
that  loomed  big  in  the  w^orld's  history — Chicago  has 

364  . 


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Chicago.  The  business  center  of 
the  city  within  the  first  circuit  boule- 
vard, showing  the  proposed  grand 
east-and-west  axis  and  its  relation 
to  Grant  Park  and  the  yacht  harbor, 
the  railway  terminals  scheme  on  the 
south  and  west  sides,  and  the  civic 
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GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

reached  her  rank  in  but  little  more  than  the  three  score 
years  and  ten  allotted  to  man.  Here  is  the  great  crucible 
into  which  has  been  poured  people,  customs,  and  tra- 
ditions from  a  field  that  covers  the  earth  and  from  .which 
is  emerging"  the  final  product  of  ten  centuries  of  political 
struggle  —  American  democracy.  As  heir  to  the  ages, 
Chicago  is  working  out  the  problems  of  self-government 
and  rights  of  man  that  had  their  inception  with  the  dawn 
of  history  in  the  forests  of  Friesland  and  Jutland  and 
came  down  to  us  step  by  step  through  centuries  of  trouble, 
always  triumphant,  never  completed. 

Chicago  has  become  what  she  is  through  individualism. 
Men  as  units,  in  striving  for  their  own  personal  ad- 
vancement, have,  in  the  aggregate,  produced  that  which 
w^e  call  Chicago.  Our  growth  and  development  have  been 
natural  but  without  any  general  underlying  plan,  tending 
to  bring  about  the  harmonious  and  systematic  whole 
which  is  essential  to  the  perfect  development  of  any 
growth. 

The  Plan  of  Chicago  means  the  city  practical.  Dirt, 
grime,  and  sordid  conditions  are  not  a  part  of  industrial 
and  commercial  success.  They  are,  rather,  evidences  of 
failure  to  grasp  the  fundamental  truth  that  men  who  are 
happy,  whose  lives  are  cast  in  pleasant  places,  who  are 
clean  of  body  and  clean  of  mind  are  the  men  who  best 
do  things. 

As  Rome  rested  upon  her  citizenry,  so  Chicago's  com- 
mercial and  industrial  supremacy  rests  upon  the  charac- 
ter, capacity,  and  physique  of  her  industrial  workers  and 
part  of  the  wealth  created  by  men  who  toil  through  life 
means,  in  any  well-regulated  order  of  affairs,  the  bring- 
ing of  joy  and  the  securing  of  more  comfort  and  better 
opportunities  to  those  who  produce  such  wealth. 

Like  the  other  addresses  at  this,  the  "kick  off"  din- 
ner which  set  in  motion   the  machinery  of  actual   ac- 

3^5 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

complishment  on  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  this  striking 
admonition  may,  with  profit,  be  adapted  to  the  propa- 
ganda efforts  of  city  planners  in  any  community. 

The  most  notable  meeting  of  the  commission  —  a 
meeting  calculated  to  produce  far-reaching  cooperation 
and  results  in  advancing  the  Plan  of  Chicago  —  was  held 
in  19 1 2  after  a  start  had  been  made  in  carrying  out  the 
Plan  and  at  a  time  when  the  public  was  beginning  to 
appreciate  its  vast  importance.  This  meeting  was  in 
the  form  of  a  complimentary  dinner  to  all  of  the  govern- 
mental officials  in  Chicago  —  federal,  state,  county,  and 
city.  The  list  of  guests  contained  some  four  hundred 
names  and  included  also  all  the  judges  of  every  branch 
of  the  court  and  the  executives  of  all  the  leading  civic 
and  commercial  associations.  These  were  made  ac- 
quainted by  illustrated  lecture  with  the  proposals  in  the 
Plan  and  with  their  individual  part,  as  citizens  and 
officials,  in  carrying  them  out.  It  is  doubtful  if  any 
similar  gathering  was  ever  convened  for  any  purpose. 

Another  notable  contribution  to  city  planning  en- 
deavor in  the  United  States  was  contributed  by  Mr. 
Wacker  at  the  Fifth  National  Conference  on  City 
Planning  in  Chicago,  May,  19 13.  At  its  final  banquet 
he  delivered  an  address  entitled,  "Gaining  Public  Sup- 
jxDrt  for  a  City  Planning  Movement."  He  was  asked  to 
discuss  the  experience  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission 
from  this  standpoint  in  order  that  the  representatives  of 
city  planning  from  all  over  America  could  have  an  in- 
valuable guide  for  their  own  local  activities.  Mr. 
Wacker's  address  made  a  profound  impression  and  was 
distributed  by  the  conference  broadcast  throughout  the 

366 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

nation.     It  stands  as  a  model  pronouncement  upon  the 
subject. 

Elsewhere  in  this  volume  there  has  been  described  the 
educational  and  publicity  methods  employed  by  the  com- 
mission. The  real  thing  in  which  all  Chicago  takes  justi- 
fiable pride,  and  which  is  of  material  concern  to  all  other 
cities,  is  what  has  actually  been  accomplished  in  carry- 
ing out  the  Plan  of  Chicago, 

At  the  very  first  meeting  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Plan  Commission,  November  i6,  1909,  a  resolu- 
tion was  adopted  for  the  appointment  of  a  special  com- 
mittee to  study  and  investigate  the  need  for  widening 
West  Twelfth  Street.  Two  months  later  the  Twelfth 
Street  improvement  was  recommended  to  the  city  by  the 
entire  commission.  Fourteen  months  elapsed  before  the 
project  was  approved  by  the  city's  Board  of  Local  Im- 
provements. At  least  two-thirds  of  this  time  could  have 
been  saved  by  a  little  more' energy  on  the  part  of  the 
city  authorities.  The  preliminary  work  was  from  that 
moment  speeded  up  in  the  city  department,  and  slightly 
more  than  a  month  later  the  City  Council  passed  an 
ordinance  authorizing  the  improvement. 

This  initial  step  in  carrying  out  the  Plan  of  Chicago 
was  an  exceedingly  democratic  movement  and  a  very 
important  one.  Twelfth  Street  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant east  and  west  streets  in  the  city.  It  is  the  first 
mile  section-line  south  of  the  city's  center.  It  passes 
through  a  most  squalid  and  densely  congested  Ghetto 
and  tenement  district  and  crossing  the  Chicago  River,- 
cuts  through  a  solid  half  mile  of  railway  terminal  ap- 
proach tracks  to  the  important  commercial  arteries  — 

367 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

State  Street  and  Wabash  and  Michigan  avenues,  termi- 
nating a  block  beyond  in  a  narrow  gap  at  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Station. 

In  the  Plan  of  Chicago  Twelfth  Street  forms  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  "Quadrangle,"  the  other 
boundaries  of  which  are  Michigan  Avenue,  skirting  the 
lake  on  the  east;  Chicago  Avenue,  the  first  mile-section 
street  north  of  the  center;  and  Halsted  Street,  the  first 
mile-section  street  to  the  west.  The  inner  northern 
boundary  of  this  quadrangle  is  South  Water  Street, 
home  of  Chicago's  produce  market  and  the  inner 
western  boundary  is  Canal  Street,  which  is  the  first 
north  and  south  street  west  of  the  Chicago  River  and  on 
the  rim  of  the  Loop  district. 

This  quadrangle  is  the  foundation  of  the  street  circu- 
latory system  in  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  It  is  flanked  by 
other  quadrangles  more  remote  from  the  center  and  is 
penetrated  by  important  diagonal  thoroughfares.  This 
central  quadrangle  of  streets,  it  is  planned,  should  be 
widened,  extended,  and  properly  connected  to  form  a 
great  clearing  basin  for  traffic  about  the  city's  commer- 
cial center  to  relieve  congestion  at  its  heart,  to  facili- 
tate traffic  to  and  from  the  railway  terminals  situated 
upon  its  route,  and  to  provide  facilities  in  its  course  for 
the  lessening  of  cross  traffic. 

While  the  majority  of  Chicagoans  prior  to  the  propa- 
ganda~of  the  Plan  Commission  had  little  knowledge  of 
TwelTtli  Street  and  literally  none  concerning  its  basic 
value  in  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  yet  so  inspired  had  they 
become  with  the  Plan  idea  that  even  in  this,  its  early 
inception,   the  bond  issue   for  its  construction  was  au- 

-.68 


Chicago.     Ivvelfth  Street  improved  according  to  the  Plan  of 
Chicago. 


OF  m 

UHWERSiTV  Of  iUJNO. 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

thorized  in  November,  1912,  by  a  majority  vote  of 
21,787. 

Meanwhile,  much  hard  work  on  the  prehminary  steps 
had  been  accompHshed  by  the  city  and  by  the  Chicago 
Plan  Commission.  Through  a  misapprehension  of  what 
was  proposed  the  property  owners  organized  to  figM 
the  widening,  and  in  this  they  were  encouraged  by 
lawyers  and  professional  agitators  who  ostensibly  were 
seeking  their  own  ends.  Scores  of  meetings  were  initi- 
ated by  the  officers  of  the  commission  in  the  vicinity 
affected,  which  was  almost  entirely  foreign.  As  a  last- 
ing tribute  to  Chicago's  citizens  of  foreign  origin,  it 
must  be  recorded  that  these  people,  when  they  were 
properly  informed  of  the  benefits  the  widening  would 
confer  upon  them  and  upon  the  entire  city,  undertook 
to  cooperate  with  the  commission,  and  did  so  with  such 
complete  harmony  and  faith  as  to  put  some  of  the  more 
Americanized  sections  to  blush.  When  the  condemna- 
tion suit  went  to  trial  they  offered  practically  no  oppo- 
sition, although  much  of  their  property  was  taken  and 
the  remainder  heavily  assessed. 

The  West  Twelfth  Street  improvement  involved  the 
widening  of  that  thoroughfare  from  66  feet  to  108  feet 
for  a  mile  and  a  half  west  of  the  Chicago  River,  the 
building  of  a  great  new  bridge  and  the  construction  of 
a  new  118-foot  wide  steel  and  concrete  viaduct  over  the 
network  of  railway  tracks  for  the  distance  of  a  half  mile 
east  of  the  river  to  Wabash  x^venue.  At  that  point  the 
old  street  was  only  50  feet  wide. 

The  suit  to  secure  possession  of  the  necessary  land 
began  in  the  Superior  Court,  November  27,  19 14.     On 

369 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

November  g,  191 5,  the  court  overruled  all  legal  objec- 
tions to  the  Twelfth  Street  improvement.  The  final 
favorable  court  decision  in  this  case,  rendered  on 
June  14,  19 1 6,  opened  the  way  for  the  city  to  tear  down 
the  buildings,  widen  the  street,  and  build  the  viaduct. 
The  first  piece  of  property  to  be  taken  by  the  city  was 
paid  for  on  August  25,  19 16,  on  which  day  the  work  of 
tearing  down  the  buildings  started.  The  widening  was 
finished  on  December  20,  191 7,  when  a  great  celebration 
was  held  which  was  attended  by  more  than  100,000  peo- 
ple. The  finished  work,  however,  was  only  west  of 
the  river,  the  bridge  and  viaduct  still  remaining  to  be 
constructed.  Eight  years  elapsed  from  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  Plan  Commission  for  this  improvement 
until  the  completion  of  the  first  section  of  it,  and  nearly 
seven  years  from  the  time  the  ordinance  was  adopted 
and  the  bonds  voted  by  the  people.  There  were  some 
avoidable  delays  and  many  that  were  not,  and  Chicago 
was  learning  its  lesson  —  this  was  its  first  attempt  at  a 
great  street  widening  project.  The  railroads  were  trou- 
blesome and  there  were  many  trying  problems  to  solve 
—  all  of  which  must  be  considered  in  whatever  criti- 
cisms may  be  made. 

The  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the  Great 
War  and  the  consequent  scarcity  of  material  and  labor 
stopped  the  construction  of  the  viaduct  and  the  bridge, 
although  some  foundation  work  was  allowed  so  that 
the  construction  work  could  be  undertaken  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  war.  The  estimated  cost  of  the  Twelfth 
Street  improvement  was  $4,500,000.  The  bond  issue 
to  cover  the  amount  to  be  paid  for  by  the  public  was 

370 


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GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

$1,750,000.  The  balance  was  assessed  against  the  ben- 
efited property  in  an  area  covering  almost  ten  square 
miles.  The  railroad  companies  put  up  a  stiff  fight  to 
keep  from  paying  any  part  of  the  cost  of  the  new  via- 
duct, but  they  were  beaten  at  every  turn  of  the  road  in 
court,  and  their  contracts  with  the  city  provide  that 
they  shall  pay  about  three-quarters  of  a  million  dollars 
toward  the  total  cost  of  a  million  dollars  for  its  con- 
struction. The  total  cost  of  the  improvement  when  fin- 
ished, including  sidewalks,  repaving,  grading,  and  other 
collateral  necessities,  will  probably  be  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  seven  million  dollars.  In  fairness  to  the  au- 
thorities it  should  be  stated  that  in  the  early  stages  of 
this  improvement  the  city  w-as  obliged  to  deal  with  half 
a  dozen  railroad  companies,  the  street-car  companies  and 
four  other  governmental  bodies.  These  negotiations  nat- 
urally required  a  great  deal  of  time,  and  the  experience 
gained  was  valuable  and  will  operate  to  better  advan- 
tage in  subsequent  cases.  This  is  borne  out  in  the  rapid- 
ity with  which  the  next  step  in  the  Plan  work  was 
accomplished.  Three  himdred  and  two  individual  pieces 
of  property  had  to  be  bought  and  paid  for  by  the  city 
for  this  widening  and  the  case  was  in  court  a  year  and 
seven  months.  It  was  one  of  the  most  complicated  cases 
ever  experienced  in  American  cities.  In  cities  where 
there  is  a  less  complex  form  of  government  than  in 
Chicago  such  an  undertaking  should  be  carried  out  in 
a  fraction  of  the  time  required  for  the  widening  of  West 
Twelfth  Street.  When  finished  this  great,  broad  high- 
way will  terminate  at  the  magnificent  new  Field  Mu- 
seum on  the  Lake  Front  and  its  western  terminus  will 

371 


WliiVT  OF  THE  CITY? 

1)6  adjacent  to  the  splendid  forest  preserves  existing  out- 
side the  city's  central  western  limits. 

While  the  city  authorities  were  at  work  on  the  first 
steps  of  the  Twelfth  Street  case,  the  Plan  Commission 
was  busy  studying  the  second  improvement  to  be  under- 
taken in  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  Naturally  their  attention 
reverted  at  once  to  Michigan  iVvenue,  the  eastern  boun- 
dary of  the  quadrangle.  After  much  hard  work  and 
many  meetings  and  conferences  with  the  property  own- 
ers and  civic  bodies,  three  months  after  the  Twelfth 
Street  ordinance  was  passed,  the  Plan  Commission,  on 
July  lo,  191 1,  recommended  the  Michigan  Avenue  ex- 
tension to  the  City  Council.  By  this  time  the  determina- 
tion of  the  commission  and  the  impatience  of  the  people 
for  results  on  the  Plan  began  to  make  themselves  felt  in 
the  City  Hall  and  within  two  days  after  the  council  had 
received  the  recommendation  of  the  commission,  the 
Board  of  Local  Improvements  directed  its  engineer  to 
make  an  estimate  of  the  cost.  This  was  completed  and 
submitted  to  the  board  in  May,  19 13. 

Michigan  Avenue  is  the  base  line  of  the  city's  traffic. 
It  is  destined  to  carry  the  heaviest  traffic  of  any  street 
in  the  world.  Already  it  is  famed  as  one  of  the  world's 
finest  thoroughfares  but  its  "splendid  mile,"  130  feet 
wide,  has  extended  only  from  Twelfth  Street  north  to 
the  Public  Library  at  Randolph  Street.  There  its  spa- 
ciousness was  lost  in  a  sixty-six  foot  squalid  gap.  Its 
remaining  distance  of  three  blocks  to  the  north  branch 
of  the  Chicago  River  was  lined  on  both  sides  with 
ancient,  squatty,  and  half  dilapidated  buildings.  To  the 
south  of  the  gap  towered  splendid  buildings  containing 

?>7^ 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

on  their  ground  floors  the  city's  finest  retail  shops ;  inter- 
spersed were  palatial  hotels  and  artistic  club  and  theater 
buildings;  opposite  stood  the  majestic  Art  Institute  and 
the  broad  acres  of  Grant  Park  skirting  Lake  Michigan. 
Behold  the  other  picture  —  north  through  the  gap  the 
street  presented  the  appearance  of  a  poor,  tenth-rate 
city.  It  was  almost  impossible  to  conduct  business  there 
on  account  of  the  constant  jam.  of  vehicles  in  its  narrow 
passage  and  such  as  there  was,  was  nondescript  and  of 
little  value.  Many  vacant  buildings  showed  the  grime 
of  years  upon  their  windows,  their  door  lintels  were 
hung  with  cobwebs  and  a  general  air  of  decadence  pre- 
vailed. At  the  corner  of  Randolph  Street  where  the 
street  narrowed  northward  to  less  than  half  the  width 
southward,  traffic  was  barricaded  by  the  sixty-six  foot 
jutting  building  line  which  caused  the  vehicles  struggling 
to  enter  the  gap  to  be  massed  in  solid  and  almost  inex- 
tricable confusion.  At  the  river  traffic  was  obliged  to 
make  a  sharp  turn  up  a  steep  grade  to  cross  the  Rush 
Street  bridge  and  thence  it  continued  in  that  narrow, 
overcrowded  thoroughfare  for  blocks  before  it  could 
again  turn  lakeward  into  Pine  Street  —  the  logical 
imaginary  extension  of  Michigan  Avenue — to  Lincoln 
Parkway,  where  it  connected  with  the  Lake  Shore  Drive 
and  Sheridan  Road  up  the  north  lake  shore.  These 
boulevards,  together  with  Michigan  Avenue,  form  the 
direct  connecting  arteries  between  Lincoln  Park  two 
miles  northward  from  the  city's  center,  and  Jackson 
Park,  five  miles  southward,  and  they  are  likewise  a  part 
of  the  boulevard  chain  connecting  the  entire  park  system 
of  the  city.    To  complete  this  chain,  as  well  as  to  extend 

373 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Michigan  Avenue  itself,  the  Plan  of  Chicago  provided 
for  widening  that  thoroughfare  to  the  maximum  width 
of  130  feet  and  to  carry  it  on  a  straight  line  via  a  new 
bridge  into  the  Lake  Shore  Drive  north  of  the  river, 
a  distance  of  slightly  less  than  one  mile. 

The  Rush  Street  bridge  is  one  of  the  most  crowded 
in  the  world.  It  carries  sixteen  per  cent  more  trafific 
than  London  Bridge,  long  known  as  the  most  congested 
vehicular  bridge  in  the  world.  The  seven  east  and  west 
streets  immediately  north  and  south  of  the  Rush  Street 
bridge  carry  thirty-eight  per  cent  more  traffic  across 
Michigan  Avenue  to  and  from  the  railway  freight  ter- 
minals on  the  Lake  Front  and  the  warehouse  district 
on  the  west  side  than  enters  London  at  its  seven  prin- 
cipal points  of  entrance.  The  Rush  Street  bridge  car- 
ries seventy-seven  per  cent  of  all  the  automobiles  and 
twenty-three  per  cent  of  all  the  commercial  vehicles 
entering  the  Loop  district  from  the  north  side  of  the 
city.  The  four  other  bridges  —  the  farthest  being  only 
four  blocks  distant  —  carry  the  remainder.  This  enor- 
mous traffic,  aggravated  in  summer  by  the  opening  of 
the  bridges  to  pass  deep  draft  lake  vessels,  supplemented 
by  the  heavy  cross  traffic,  cause  a  confusion  that  beg- 
gars description.  ' 

The  Michigan  Avenue  extension  plan  to  relieve  this 
is  a  double-deck  scheme.  Both  the  street  and  the  bridge 
will  have  two  levels.  The  upper  one  will  extend  from 
building  line  to  building  line  —  the  full  v/idth,  130  feet. 
New  buildings  abutting  on  either  side  will  have  the  un- 
rivaled advantage  of  two  streets  —  the  lower  one  to  be 
used  for  heavy  traffic  and  the  upper  one  to  be  the  light 

374 


Chicago.  _  The    Michigan    Avenue    "  gap "    before    the    widening 

showing    the    sixty-six-foot    passageway    to    the    north, 

blocked  by  a  soap  factory  on  the  bank  of  the  river. 


OF  THE 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

traffic-way  and  main  entrance  thoroughfare  to  the  store 
buildings.  The  approaches  to  the  upper  levels  will  be 
so  imperceptible  as  to  be  scarcely  noticeable.  The  south 
approach  is  less  than  a  two  per  cent  grade  and  the  one 
on  the  north  is  three  per  cent.  The  double-deck  bridge 
will  be  2IO  feet  long  and  90  feet  wide  —  the  first  of 
its  kind  to  be  built  in  America,  if  not  in  the  world.  All 
heavy  north-  and  south-bound  traffic  will  be  confined  to 
the  lower  level  and  the  rapid  or  light  traffic  will  have  the 
exclusive  use  of  the  upper  level.  The  bridge  at  both 
approaches  and  on  both  levels  will  open  out  on  great 
plazas  approximately  225  feet  square.  Ample  light  and 
sanitation  is  provided  for  the  lower  thoroughfare  and 
the  upper  one  will  be  highly  ornamental  and  brilliantly 
illuminated  at  night.  All  this  will  constitute  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  and  spectacular  street  improvements 
ever  undertaken  in  any  city.  When  finished  it  will  be- 
come one  of  the  most  popular  promenades  in  the  world 
equalled  in  splendor  and  glamour  only  by  Fifth  Avenue 
in  New  York  and  the  Champs-Elysees  in  Paris.  All 
east  and  west  traffic  in  the  two  level  vicinity  will  cross 
beneath  the  upper  level.  Segregating  the  traffic  in  this 
way,  in  addition  to  the  widening,  will  facilitate  traffic  in 
this  vortex  two  hundred  per  cent.  This  Plan  adds  an- 
other splendid  mile  to  Chicago's  most  fashionable  shop- 
ping thoroughfare.  The  new  and  improved  area  will 
rapidly  be  rebuilt  with  handsome  new  structures,  many 
of  which,  in  the  summer  of  19 18,  were  already  in  proc- 
ess of  erection.  The  cost  of  the  improvement  was  esti- 
mated at  the  beginning  at  eight  million  dollars.  The 
City  Council  passed  an  ordinance  authorizing  the  work 

375 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

on  July  14,  19 1 3.  Because  of  one  or  two  slight  errors, 
it  was  necessary  to  repeal  this  ordinance  and  a  new  one 
was  passed  on  March  23,  1914. 

November  5,  19 14,  the  Michigan  Avenue  bond  issue 
of  $3,800,000  for  paying  that  part  of  the  cost  charge- 
able to  the  city  of  Chicago  carried  at  the  election  by  a 
majority  of  78,846.  This  was  one  of  the  biggest  ma- 
jorities ever  given  a  large  public  improvement  project 
in  Chicago,  although  it  was  bitterly  fought  by  the  out- 
lying districts  on  the  contention  that  it  was  an  improve- 
ment for  the  rich  automobile  crowd  and  that  they  should 
pay  the  entire  cost.  On  all  sides,  it  was  freely  predicted 
that  the  issue  would  fail  of  passage.  The  objectors, 
however,  failed  to  take  into  account  the  city-wide  edu- 
cational work  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission  which 
for  years  had  been  acquainting  the  people  with  the  bene- 
fits of  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  The  comprehension  of  the 
people,'  and  their  eagerness  to  advance  the  Plan  as  rap- 
idly as  possible,  were  expressed  in  their  big  and  hearty 
vote  at  the  polls. 

Before  the  Plan  Commission  took  hold  of  the  Mich- 
igan Avenue  improvement  its  extension  as  a  surface 
widening  merely  had  been  advocated  on  various  occa- 
sions and  eighteen  public  hearings  hajd  been  scheduled 
and  abancTonecT^lDecause  the  property  owners  believed 
that  no  public  benefit  would  be  allowed  and  the  owners 
would  have  to  pay  the  entire  cost.  The  original  widen- 
ing plan  contemplated  taking  all  of  their  property.  Many 
realized  the  advantage  of  hanging  onto  this  priceless  real 
estate,  or  as  much  of  it  as  they  could,  and  thus  the  project 
was  delayed  and  defeated  until   the   Plan  Commission 

.376 


Chicago.     Old  Rush  Street  bridge,  the  most  crowded  vehicular 
bridge  in  the  world. 


©   BY  THE  CHICAGO   PLAN  COMMISSION. 


Chicago.     Mammoth  new  double-level  Michigan  Avenue  bridge 
to  replace  the  Rush  Street  span.    Under  construction  in  1919. 


#«»■ 


c-^"* 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

took  it  up  and  worked  out  the  compromise  plan  of  ex- 
tending the  thoroughfare  on  a  uniform  width.  This 
left  a  sufficient  strip  of  property  for  the  owners  to  rebuild 
on,  and  their  opposition  was  largely  dissipated. 

On  February  14,  1916,  the  trial  of  the  suit  to  secure 
possession  of  the  necessary  land  was  begun  in  the  County 
Court.  Court  action  required  a  direct  settlement  with 
8,700  property  owners.  The  trial  ended  on  March  2, 
19 1 8,  when  a  judgment  favorable  to  the  city  was  ren- 
dered. This  shut  off  all  possilile  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Court  on  questions  of  legality.  Only  questions  of  values 
could  be  appealed.  Immediate  notice  was  sent  by  the 
city  to  the  property  owners  to  vacate  within  sixty  days, 
The  tearing  down  of  the  first  building  at  the  corner  of 
the  alley  between  River  and  South  Water  streets  was 
started  on  April  13,  191 8,  with  an  imposing  celebration 

—  an  automobile  parade  around  the  entire  boulevard 
system  and  a  dinner,  attended  by  approximately  one 
thousand  people,  at  which  Mayor  William  Hale  Thomp- 
son, Michael  J.  Faherty,  president  of  the  Board  of 
Local  Improvements  and  Chairman  Wacker  of  the  Plan 
Commission  were  the  principal  speakers.  From  that 
moment  the  work  of  clearing  the  way  for  the  widening 
and  the  building  of  the  bridge  abutments  went  forward 
with  rapid  strides.    On  October  9,  1916,  "Chicago  Day" 

—  so  named  in  commemoration  of  the  city's  great  fire  of 
1871 — the  major  portion  of  the  north  section  of  the 
widened  thoroughfare  was  opened  to  the  public.  South 
of  the  river  all  of  the  buildings  had  been  torn  down  or 
cut  in  two  and  several  new  and  beautiful  fagades  were 
already  erected. 

377 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Meanwhile,  the  war,  which  had  caused  so  great  an 
increase  in  the  price  of  materials  and  labor  and  made 
the  use  of  steel  almost  prohibitive,  retarded  the  com- 
pletion of  the  upper  street  structure  and  the  great  new 
bridge.  These  conditions,  which  it  was  believed  would 
prevail  long  after  the  war  ended,  and  the  increase  in 
the  awards  to  property  owners,  whose  property  was 
taken,  caused  by  the  advance  in  realty  values  during  the 
long  period  the  case  was  in  litigation,  sent  the  cost  of 
the  improvement  soaring  an  additional  six  million  dol- 
lars. There  being  no  apparent  relief  for  this  increase, 
and  more  detriment  to  property  values  and  business 
interests  in  delaying  than  in  going  ahead,  a  new  bond 
issue  for  three  million  dollars  was  authorized  by  unan- 
imous vote  of  the  City  Council  on  March  26,  19 18,  and 
approved  by  a  majority  of  two  to  one  at  the  election 
November  5  of  that  year.  At  the  close  of  1918  the 
city  authorities  were  planning  to  levy  a  supplementary 
assessment  of  three  million  dollars  against  the  benefited 
property,  and  they  predicted  the  work  of  completing 
the  improvement  would  be  finished  early  in  1920,  as 
the  last  construction  contract  was  let  in  December, 
19 18.  The  one  handicap  other  than  securing  the 
necessary  funds  was  the  reconstruction  situation,  which 
made  it  next  to  impossible  to  secure  the  necessary  steel ; 
but  the  city  authorities  were  hopeful  the  government 
would  lend  its  aid,  it  having  been  shown  to  the  national 
authorities  that  the  completion  of  Michigan  Avenue  was 
an  urgent  and  economic  necessity. 

The  two-level  improvement  of  Michigan  Avenue  sets 
a  new  standard  in  America  for  the  relief  of  congestion 

378 


.*i»^irM»"  *»  Jl*  ■»     '  t" 


,«Lii. 


•'fid^^ 


^fij^ai. 


^^ 


-7=?^-^^ 


I'  "*     3^^      4?    ; 


sS'     ^ 


fp     /t-w^A  •v/^^<v.^ 


By  THE  NORTH  CENTRAL  ASSOCIATION 


Drawing  by  Vernon  Howe  Bailey. 

Chicago.     The  new   Michigan   Avenue   extension   looking   north 

from   the   Chicago   River  on  the  edge  of  the   I.oop  to 

Lake    Michigan    at    Lincoln    Park. 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

and  the  facilitation  of  traffic  in  the  crowded  business  sec- 
tions of  the  large  cities.  It  has  been  remarked  that  if 
the  whole  Loop  district  in  Chicago  could  be  double- 
decked  it  would  be  a  godsend ;  and  that  is  literally  the 
truth.  Of  course  this  may  never  be,  but,  judging  the 
idea  from  the  .standard  of  big  projects  for  the  better- 
ment of  the  people,  it  would  not  be  such  a  gigantic  under- 
taking that  it  could  not  be  accomplished,  and  if  it  were 
expedient  to  do  it,  the  acme  of  comfort,  convenience,  and 
beauty  in  the  caldron  of  commercial  traffic  would  be 
attained.  When  the  Michigan  Avenue  project  is  com- 
pleted and  its  remarkable  advantages  perceived,  other 
American  cities  will  quickly  fall  into  line  in  undertaking 
similar  improvements.  There  are  several  eastern  cities, 
notably  Boston,  where  practically  no  other  form  of  re- 
lief is  possible  in  the  central  section. 

Profiting  by  the  early  experience  in  the  Twelfth  Street 
case,  the  Plan  Commission  took  time  by  the  forelock 
and  saw  to  it  that  a  majority  of  the  lineal  front  footage 
affected  by  the  Michigan  Avenue  widening  was  signed 
up  as  favorable  to  the  improvement  before  the  final  pub- 
lic hearing  was  held,  so  that  the  delay  of  a  year  would 
not  occur,  which  was  the  provision  of  the  law  in  the 
event  that  a  majority  opposition  was  shown  instead. 
Leading  property  owners  came  forward  and  volunteered 
their  assistance  to  the  commission.  These  formed  the 
North  Central  Business  District  Association,  which 
eventually  numbered  several  hundred  members.  This 
association,  pledged  to  the  improvement,  gave  invaluable 
assistance  to  the  city  in  promoting  the  improvement 
with  the  property  owners  and  the  public.     Out  of  their 

379 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

initial  effort  to  assist  the  jMichigan  Avenue  improvement 
grew  a  strong  association  —  now  the  North  Central  Asso- 
ciation—  of  far-seeing,  public-spirited  men  who  have 
since,  in  other  ways,  materially  assisted  in  the  advance- 
ment of  other  improvements  collateral  to  the  main  de- 
velopment plans  for  the  central  section  of  the  city  and 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  entire  community. 

The  trial  of  this  case,  which  lasted  two  years,  was 
contested  by  two  hundred  and  five  lawyers  who,  in  their 
efforts  to  obtain  good  deals  for  their  clients,  added  tre- 
mendously to  the  cost  of  the  litigation,  the  city  being 
obliged  to  employ  a  large  array  of  high-priced  experts 
to  defend  itself  against  its  opponents.  Many  instances 
of  unselfishness  and  fine  public  spirit,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  shown  by  citizens  whose  property  was  either  taken 
or  heavily  taxed,  but  many  other  instances  of  selfishness 
of  the  first  order  showed  themselves,  which  resulted  in 
the  cost  of  the  improvement  being  materially  enhanced. 

As  city  planning  grows  apace  and  public  improve- 
ments are  made  under  its  urge,  citizens  of  the  latter 
class  will  come  to  realize  that  a  good  and  fair  value  for 
their  property  should  be  accepted  by  them  at  once;  the}' 
will  come  to  learn  that  fighting  the  city  for  excessive 
compensation  is,  in  the  end,  extremely  costly  to  their 
personal  pockets,  and  they  will  experience  a  change  of 
heart  which  it  is  fervently  to  be  hoped  will  take  the  form 
of  a  fine  and  true  spirit  for  the  common  need  of  the 
entire  community. 

Chicago  city  planning  has  had  the  most  helpful  co- 
operation possible  from  each  of  the  three  city  admin- 
istrations through  which  it  has  lived,  and  from  the  City 

380 


Draiving  by  Vernoti  Howe  Bailey. 

Chicago.     Gateway  to  the  new  Michigan  Avenue  extension,  showing 
imposing  intensive  development  under  construction  in  1919. 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

Councils  in  those  administrations.  In  his  address  at  the 
opening  of  the  initial  work  on  Michigan  Avenue,  Mr. 
Wacker  said : 

The  administrations  of  Mayors  Fred  A.  Busse,  Carter 
H.  Harrison,  and  William  Hale  Thompson  will  illumine 
one  of  the  brightest  pages  in  the  history  of  Chicago  — 
the  brightest  of  all  pages  in  the  history  of  our  beloved 

city. 

The  years  191 1,  1912,  and  1913  were  busy,  fruitful 
years  for  the  Plan  Commission.  Simultaneously  with 
its  development  of  the  Twelfth  Street  and  Michigan 
Avenue  improvements,  it  was  deeply  immersed  in  study- 
ing and  advancing  the  plans  for  improving  the  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan,  including  the  reclamation  of  hundreds 
of  acres  of  submerged  lands  for  park  purposes  between 
Grant  Park  at  the  center  of  the  city  and  Jackson  Park, 
five  miles  southward., 

In  August,  19 1 2,  the  Pennsylvania  Railway  Company 
caused  to  be  published  in  the  Chicago  newspapers  an 
elaborate  set  of  plans  presenting  its  ideas  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  new  Union  Station  on  the  west  side  to  accom- 
modate, besides  its  own  road,  the  Chicago,  Burlington 
&  Quincy,  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul,  and 
the  Chicago  &  Alton  roads.  These  plans  importantly 
affected  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  The  chairman  of  the  Plan 
Commission  was  in  Europe,  and  the  companies,  whose 
plans  had  been  kept  entirely  from  the  public  eye,  having 
once  published  them,  took  immediate  steps  to  have  them 
carried  out  under  the  auspices  of  The  Chicago  Associa- 
tion of  Commerce.     The  executive  committee  of  that 

381 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

body  held  a  meeting  almost  immediately  to  push  the  rail- 
way terminal  project,  but  when  it  was  shown  what  vital 
Plan  of  Chicago  interests  were  involved  it  delayed 
action,  awaiting  the  return  of  the  Plan  Commission 
chairman  from  Europe  and  the  submission  of  the  com- 
pany's plans  to  the  commission  for  its  review  and 
recommendations. 

The  negotiations  which  ensued  covered  a  period  of 
a  year  and  eight  months,  during  which  the  controversy 
waxed  warm  almost  to  the  point  of  bitterness.  Meetings 
were  held  by  the  score,  plans  were  made  and  remade, 
powerful  influences  were  exerted  pro  and  con,  but  finally 
a  satisfactory  settlement  was  made  to  all  interests  —  a 
settlement  that  was  a  credit  to  the  city.  This,  in  no 
small  measure,  was  due  to  the  remarkable  sanity,  tact, 
and  perseverance  of  the  chairman  of  the  Chicago  Plan 
Commission. 

No  more  spirited  nor  protracted  sessions  of  the  City 
Council  have  ever  been  held  in  Chicago  than  those  of 
its  Railway  Terminal  Committee  on  this  case.  On  ac- 
count of  the  tremendous  public  interest  aroused  in  it, 
the  committee  was  early  obliged  to  transfer  the  hearings 
from  its  ordinarily  commodious  committee  room  to  the 
great  Council  Chamber  itself.  Here  prominent  busi- 
ness men  and  citizens  without  number  and  from  all  parts 
of  the  city,  representing  all  manner  of  interests,  took 
part  in  the  debates.  Nearing  the  close  of  the  debate, 
sessions  of  the  committee  were  held  daily  for  many 
weeks  and  frequently  extended  far  into  the  night. 

The  Plan  Commission  officials,  in  support  of  their 
plans,  met  with  dozens  of  civic  organizations  and  citizen 

382 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

bodies  and  issued  many  important  briefs,  arguments, 
and  illustrated  booklets  in  advancing  their  ideas.  In  all 
of  the  controversy,  which  lasted  so  many  months  and 
which  attracted  so  many  of  the  country's  ablest  tech- 
nical minds,  it  has  always  been  a  matter  of  great  pride 
to  the  officers  of  the  Plan  Commission  that  their  tech- 
nical studies  and  deductions  were  never  once  success- 
fully challenged,  although  unfortunately  for  the  best 
interests  of  the  city  some  of  their  principal  recommen- 
dations were  not  concurred  in. 

The  company's  plans  proposed  the  erection  of  a  new 
passenger  terminal  at  the  corner  of  Jackson  Boulevard 
and  Canal  Street,  one  block  south  of  their  old  location, 
and  an  overhead  freight  track  approach,  to  carry  four 
tracks,  for  a  distance  of  two  miles,  terminating  in  the 
heart  of  the  west  side  civic  center  plans  in  the  Plan  of 
Chicago.  On  both  of  these  principal  essentials  the  Plan 
Commission  officials  took  vigorous  issue,  which  they 
maintained  until  the  final  settlement  was  reached  and 
the  contract  ordinances  between  the  city  and  the  com- 
panies were  entered  into.  Meanwhile  several  sites  for 
the  location  of  the  new  station  were  proposed  by  leading 
architects  and  plans  drawn  to  fit — all  of  which  were 
submitted  for  the  consideration  of  the  city  authorities. 
Leading  among  these  was  a  plan  for  a  Union  Station 
to  house  not  only  the  west-side  but  also  the  south-side 
roads  at  the  corner  of  State  and  Twelfth  streets.  This 
location  was  a  radical  one  for  the  west-side  roads,  being 
one-half  mile  south  and  one-half  mile  east  of  the  site 
proposed  by  the  companies.  It  was  the  suggestion  of 
the  well-known  architect,  Jarvis  Hunt,  who  accompanied 

383 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

his  site  proposal  with  elaborate  plans,  for  which  he  made 
a  vigorous  fight  backed  by  a  considerable  and  substan- 
tial following.  The  Plan  Commission  officials  proposed 
a  site  at  the  corner  of  Canal  and  Twelfth  streets  one- 
half  mile  directly  south  of  the  one  selected  by  the  com- 
panies. Their  plans,  which  likewise  were  elaborate  to 
the  last  detail,  were  accompanied  by  exact  and  far- 
reaching  arguments.  Early  in  the  debate,  when  the 
discussions  began  to  assume  aggressive  proportions,  a 
strong  citizens'  committee,  comprising  some  seventy-five 
of  Chicago's  leading  business  men,  organized  to  assist 
the  city  in  obtaining  the  best  legal  and  technical  advisers. 
This  powerful  organization  was  headed  by  Alfred  L. 
Baker,  president  of  the  City  Club  and  one  of  Chicago's 
foremost  business  and  public-spirited  men.  This  com- 
mittee which  did  valiant  service  throughout  the  cam- 
paign, employed  the  noted  corporation  lawyer,  Walter 
L.  Fisher,  and  the  equally  noted  electrical  expert,  Bion 
J.  Arnold,  whose  services  it  contributed  to  the  city,  which 
accepted  them. 

The  fabric  of  cooperation  began  to  knit  itself  and  it 
became  apparent,  as  these  several  bodies  investigated  the 
subject,  that  a  special  Railway  Terminal  Commission 
should  be  appointed  by  the  city  not  only  to  advise  it  in 
the  solution  of  the  terminal  plans  in  question  but  to  make 
a  study  of  the  entire  remaining  terminal  situation  in 
Chicago.  The  appointment  of  such  a  commission  was 
suggested  by  Mr.  Baker's  committee,  and  was  heartily 
concurred  in  by  the  Plan  Commission.  It  was  duly  ap- 
pointed by  the  City  Council,  who  selected  the  celebrated 
engineer,  John  F.  Wallace,  of  New  York,  as  its  head. 

384 


''*f'^fi         I     III. 


~  1 


Chicago.    Canal  Street.    New  Union  Station  at  Jackson  Boulevard, 
replacing  the  old  station  at  Adams  Street. 


Chicago.    Canal  Street.    Old  Union  Depot  at  Adams  Street. 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

The  terminal  commission  was  limited  in  its  personnel 
and  was  largely  technical  in  its  formation.  Messrs. 
Fisher  and  Arnold  were  appointed  thereon,  and  the 
remainder  consisted  of  the  public  works  commissioner, 
the  corporation  counsel,  the  chairman  of  the  Council 
Terminal  Committee  and  Architect  E.  H.  Bennett  of  the 
Plan  Commission.  From  the  moment  of  its  appoint- 
ment, this  commission,  together  with  the  officers  of  the 
Plan  Commission,  became  the  dominant  figure  in  the 
fight  for  the  city  against  the  companies. 

Many  delays  and  difiiculties  were  encountered  at  the 
outset  because  the  Pennsylvania  company's  officials, 
whose  headquarters  were  in  Philadelphia,  overlooked 
Chicago  entirely  and  began  apparently  to  proceed  on 
the  theory  that  they  could  do  as  they  pleased  and  that 
their  plans  would  be  taken  as  a  matter  of  course.  Seem- 
ingly they  were  quite  unprepared  for  the  onslaught  that 
was  made  against  them  broadsides.  Instead  of  infre- 
quent visits  to  Chicago  as  in  the  early  stages  of  nego- 
tiation, the  officials  of  this  eastern  company  virtually 
took  up  headquarters  in  Chicago  until  the  negotiations 
were  concluded. 

The  Plan  Commission  officials,  armed  with  unassail- 
able argTiments,  vigorously  and  from  the  very  start,  op- 
posed the  companies'  plans  to  occupy  the  heart  of  the 
central  west  side  with  freight  terminals  and  overhead 
tracks.  Not  only  did  they  oppose  but  they  offered  fea- 
sible alternative  plans  fully  adequate  for  the  companies' 
needs  and  far  less  harmful  to  the  public's  interest.  As 
a  result,  the  railroad  people  completely  changed  their 
freight  layout  and  proposed  an  entirely  new  set  of  plans, 

3B5 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

which  located  their  freight  terminals  along  the  river 
adjacent  to  Twelfth  Street,  thus  avoiding  encroachment 
upon  an  area  marked  for  future  intensive  development 
in  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  The  new  plans,  being  accept- 
able to  the  Plan  officials,  were  passed  into  the  Council 
Committee  for  final  settlement. 

Interest  now  centered  upon  the  location  of  the  pas- 
senger station.  After  lengthy  debates  and  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  various  plans  submitted  all  were 
ruled  out  excepting  those  of  the  Plan  officials,  which 
located  the  station  at  Twelfth  and  Canal  streets,  and  the 
site  proposed  by  the  companies  half  a  mile  farther  north 
at  Jackson  Boulevard  and  Canal  Street. 

Strong  opposition  developed  on  the  part  of  the  large 
central  business  interests  to  the  removal  of  the  station 
so  far  to  the  southward,  but  the  Plan  officials  contended 
to  the  last  that  that  was  the  place  for  it,  looking  to  the 
city's  future  growth  and  requirements.  Although  they  put 
up  one  of  the  best  defended  and  most  memorable  fights 
in  the  history  of  Chicago,  in  the  end  they  were  obliged  to 
give  way  in  face  of  the  stronger  forces  and  allow  the 
companies'  site  to  stand.  This  they  did,  however,  only 
after  their  technical  staff  had  made  a  complete  survey 
of  the  plan  of  the  area  in  and  adjacent  to  the  proposed 
terminal  zone,  which  they  followed  with  a  score  of  de- 
mands for  collateral  improvements  to  be  paid  for  by 
the  companies,  in  every  one  of  which  they  were  upheld 
by  the  Railway  Terminal  Commission  and  the  Council 
Committee,  with  the  result  that  with  two  or  three  minor 
exceptions  they  were  all  written  in  the  ordinances  and 
accepted  finally  by  the  companies. 

386 


^ 


GREATEST  CITY  PLx\NNING  BOARD 

These  improvements  to  be  paid  for  by  the  companies, 
in  addition  to  $1,500,000  in  cash  compensation  for  cer- 
tain vacated  pubhc  streets,  totaled  $6,000,000,  and  in- 
cluded new  bridges,  bridge  approaches,  w^idened  street 
viaducts  and  the  widening  of  Canal  Street  from  eighty 
to  one  hundred  feet  in  the  area  from  Kinzie  to  Twelfth 
streets  —  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half.  In  all,  sixteen 
major  public  improvements  were  thus  provided  for,  not 
one  of  which  (nor  the  cash  payment)  was  included  in 
the  original  proposals  of  the  railroads  to  the  city.  Never 
before  in  the  history  of  Chicago  had  railroads,  seeking 
terminal  privileges,  paid  so  much  for  them. 

Thus  the  inner  western  boundary  of  the  quadrangle 
in  the  Plan  of  Chicago  was  provided  for  and  made  to 
dovetail  with  the  southern  and  northern  boundaries. 
The  total  project  of  the  Union  Station  Company,  includ- 
ing passenger  and  freight  terminals  and  track  layout, 
when  finished,  will  cost  more  than  $50,000,000.  From 
the  first  action  of  the  Plan  Commission  on  March  12, 
1912,  when  it  unanimously  declared  against  the  laying 
of  railroad  tracks  overhead  north  of  Twelfth  Street, 
on  through  to  May  24,  1913,  when  its  chairman,  Mr. 
Wacker,  made  his  memorable  argument  before  the  mem- 
bers of  the  City  Council  Terminal  Committee,  down 
through  to  March  23,  19 14,  when  the  contract  ordinances 
were  passed  by  the  City  Council  and  accepted  by  the 
companies,  the  officials  of  the  Plan  Commission  stood 
out  for  the  protection  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago  and  a  fine 
and  complete  development  of  the  entire  terminal  area. 
Their  efforts  were  successful  with  the  exception  of  the 
location  of  the  passenger  terminal.      The  loss  of   this 

Z^7 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

they  did  not  concede  as  vital,  since  their  plans  were  pri- 
marily to  show  the  railroads  how  their  freight  and  pas- 
senger plans  could  be  made  to  fit  in  with  the  Plan  of 
Chicago,  and  in  the  end  the  essential  requirements  were 
provided  for  in  the  ado'pted  ordinances.  Under  the 
terms  of  these,  the  entire  construction  work  was  to  have 
been  completed  in  1919,  but  the  war  seriously  interfered 
with  this  procedure.  The  Pennsylvania  freight  terminal, 
a  magnificent  and  commodious  structure,  has  been  com- 
pleted, and  all  of  the  underground  work  and  much  of 
the  track  approach  layout,  so  that,  when  conditions  will 
permit,  the  remainder  of  the  construction,  including  the 
splendid  new  passenger  station,  can  go  forward  without 
delay. 

It  is  doubtful  if  a  more  pertinent,  forceful,  far- 
reaching,  and  convincing  argument  ever  was  presented 
to  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  than  that  of  Mr.  Wacker 
at  the  opening  of  the  west  side  terminal  debate.  Several 
of  his  recommendations  made  at  that  time  were  basic  in 
the  best  future  development  of  the  city,  such  as  the 
straightening  of  the  south  branch  of  the  Chicago  River 
and  the  opening  of  a  number  of  the  city's  most  .impor- 
tant north  and  south  streets  in  the  central  section,  now- 
closed  by  railroad  occupancy.  These  recommendations 
became  the  foundation  stone  upon  which  the  Railway 
Terminal  Commission  afterward  commenced  its  studies 
for  an  ultimate  solution  of  the  entire  remaining  terminal 
situation  of  Chicago. 

From  being  ignored  in  the  beginning,  the  manner  in 
which  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission  came  to  the  fore 
and  was   recognized   in   this  memorable  west   side  ter- 

388 


jl-  resist (Sy    ifT       .      V      !'> 


,--*-.-s^ 


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0.2 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

minal  fight  is  best  illustrated  in  the  following  incident : 
In  the  closing  days  of  the  long,  hard  struggle  peace  and 
amity  pervaded  the  sessions  of  the  City  Council  Com- 
mittee. At  one  of  the  final  meetings,  when  the  ordi- 
nances were  being  put  together  piece  by  piece  and  agreed 
to  by  both  the  company  and  the  city  as  new  articles  came 
up,  an  alderman  proposed  the  widening  of  the  Polk  and 
Taylor  Street  viaducts  from  forty  to  eighty  feet  to  be 
paid  for  by  the  companies.  Vice-President  Turner  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Compan}'-,  who  was  weary  with  com- 
bat and  lean  from  concessions  already  granted,  rose  in 
the  meeting  and  said:  "Ts  this  satisfactory  to  Mr. 
Wacker,  chairman  of  the  Plan  Commission?  I  posi- 
tively will  not  make  any  definite  move  in  these  hearings 
unless  I  know  he  is  satisfied."  No  better  example  of 
the  value  of  accessory  before  the  fact  instead  of  after 
the  fact,  as  the  lawyers  would  say,  could  be  found  than 
this  utterance  from  the  mouthpiece  of  powerful  railway 
interests  who  unfortunately  had  overlooked  the  fact  that 
cooperation  with  the  city  at  the  beginning  would  have 
saved  them  money  and  what  is  more  valuable  still,  time, 
in  the  end. 

The  northern  boundary  of  the  quadrangle  in  the  Plan 
of  Chicago  is  Chicago  Avenue,  one  mile  north  of  the 
central  east  and  west  axis,  Madison  Street.  Chicago 
Avenue  is  a  one  hundred  foot  wide  thoroughfare  and 
will  require  no  improvement  in  the  development  of  the 
Plan.  Thus,  with  the  widening  of  Canal  Street  as  pro- 
vided for  by  the  terminal  ordinances,  the  entire  quad- 
rangle will  be  completed  as  soon  as  all  of  the  retarded 
work  occasioned  by  the  war,  on  this  and  the  other  bound- 

380 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

aries,  Twelfth  Street  and  Michigan  Avenue,  can  be 
finished. 

The  World's  Columbian  Exposition  had  scarcely- 
closed  its  gates,  the  echo  of  that  greatest  of  artistic  tri- 
umphs had  not  begun  to  fade,  when  its  director  of  works, 
Daniel  Hudson  Burnham,  suggested  the  plan  for  the  im- 
provement of  Chicago's  Lake  Front. 

The  plans  outlined  by  Mr.  Burnham  at  that  time  were 
later  incorporated  in  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  The  Lake 
Front  plans  are  the  most  dramatic  and  without  doubt, 
by  far  the  most  beneficial  feature  in  the  Plan,  but  there 
were  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  their  accomplish- 
ment. The  history  of  progress  on  the  Lake  Front  im- 
provement is  long  and  complicated,  extending  over  a 
period  of  nine  years,  whereas  it  should  have  been  short 
and  simple.  Of  all  the  betterment  plans  that  were  ever 
offered  to  any  city,  Chicago's  Lake  Front  plans  are  the 
most  magnificent,  the  most  easy  of  accomplishment,  the 
most  inexpensive  of  construction,  the  most  adapted  to 
healthful  recreation  and  the  most  potential  of  happiness 
and  prosperity  for  the  people,  and  yet  their  accomplish- 
ment has  dragged  wearily  through  years  of  discussion 
• — much  of  it  stubborn,  useless,  and  unintelligent  — 
while  the  people  have  waited  and  are  still  waiting  for 
their  parks  on  the  shore  of  their  beautiful  lake  and  the 
pleasure  and  health  these  could  give  to  them. 

Reviewing  the  years  of  wrangling,  bickering,  and 
delay,  one  is  forced  to  the  honest  conclusion  that  two- 
thirds  of  these  nine  years  have  been  wasted  and  that 
two-thirds  of  the  controversy  has  been  stupid.  The 
Plan  Commission  in   1916  published  an  amazing  docu- 

390 


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GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

ment  in  which  it  showed  that  the  city  could  make  1,280 
acres  of  park  lands  in  twelve  years  by  filling  the  sub- 
merged area  between  Grant  and  Jackson  parks  through 
utilization  of  the  city's  waste  material.  It  proved  that 
this  wonderful  achievement  would  not  only  not  cost  the 
tax-payers  a  single  cent  but,  on  the  other  hand,  would 
produce  a  revenue  of  three  million  dollars  and  lands 
worth  $46,000,000.  It  showed  in  this  remarkable  state- 
ment that  the  people  would  obtain  this  vast  asset  of 
$49,000,000  for  nothing,  and  it  pointed  out  that  if  the 
city's  waste  material  was  not  used  in  this  manner,  it 
could  be  used  in  no  other  way  and  would  shortly  have  to 
be  transported  at  great  expense  far  from  the  city  and 
thrown  away.  Yet  the  plans  were  not  advanced,  still 
they  hung  fire,  still  the  people  waited  in  vain.  But  to  go 
back  to  the  beginning,  we  discover  the  real  and  neces- 
sary obstacles  which  were  easily  overcome  and  we  like- 
wise discover  the  unnecessary  and  unreal  ones  which 
have  not  been  overcome. 

First,  and  before  anything  could  iDe  accomplished,  it 
was  necessary  to  go  to  the  State  Legislature  for  the 
requisite  enactments  to  enable  the  city  to  acquire  the 
riparian  rights  of  property  owners.  These  were  had 
in  1903  and  1907  —  long  in  advance  of  the  work  of  the 
Plan  Commission  on  this  part  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago 
—  and  thus  the  first  and  fundamental  barrier  to  easy 
progress  was  quickly  swept  away. 

Next  and  most  formidable  in  procedure  came  the 
question  of  dealing  with  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company  for  its  water  rights,  which  stretched  for  nearly 
four  miles  along  the  lake  shore  from  the  city's  center 

391 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

southward.  (The  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  it  must  be 
remembered,  approaches  its  terminal  in  Chicago  for  sev- 
eral miles  directly  along  the  edge  of  the  lake.)  This 
involved  a  long  series  of  negotiations  with  the  company 
which  were  undertaken  by  The  Commercial  Club  Plan 
Committee  under  the  able  direction  of  its  chairman, 
Edward  B.  Butler,  before  the  appointment  of  the  Plan 
Commission  in  1909.  An  agreement  was  reached  but 
later,  when  the  city  took  the  matter  up  in  public  hear- 
ing, a  citizens'  committee  led  by  Lessing  Rosenthal  came 
forward  and  ofifered  to  assist  in  reopening  the  matter 
with  the  Illinois  Central  people  for  more  favorable 
terms,  which  was  accomplished.  This  question  of  terms, 
in  dealing  with  the  railway  company,  rested  upon  the 
demands  of  the  company,  which  wished  to  reserve  the 
right  to  extend  its  right-of-way  lakeward  by  filling  in  a 
strip  of  submerged  area  in  the  lake  in  exchange  for  the 
surrender  of  its  water  rights  to  the  city,  which  would  per- 
mit the  municipality  to  reclaim  the  submerged  area  out- 
side of  the  boundary  demanded  by  the  company.  The 
crux  of  the  whole  matter  rested  upon  how  much  the  com- 
pany should  be  allowed  to  retain  and  fill  at  its  own  ex- 
pense and  what  other  concessions  it  should  make  to  the 
city  in  the  exchange,  looking  to  a  readjustment  of  its 
terminal  properties  and  the  erection  of  a  new  track  lay- 
out and  a  new  passenger  station. 

These  negotiations  became  a  matter  of  hearing  in  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Cook  County  in  April,  19 12.  The  basis 
for  this  action  was  the  final  agreement  between  the  com- 
pany and  the  South  Park  Commissioners.  Three  months 
later  the  court  confirmed  the  agreement  which  had  been 

392 


Chicago.  Chart 
showing  how  1,280 
acres  of  Lake  Front 
parks  —  worth  $46,- 
000,000  and  $3,000,000 
in  revenue  —  can  be 
had  for  nothing  by 
utilizing  Chicago's 
waste  material. 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

entered  into.  Simultaneously  the  Lake  Shore  Reclama- 
tion Commission  (Alderman  Theodore  K.  Long,  chair- 
man), which  had  been  especially  created  by  the  City 
Council  to  assist  in  this  case,  brought  about  agreements 
with  the  rest  of  the  private  owners,  and  the  way  was 
opened  at  last  for  the  city  through  the  park  authorities 
to  proceed  to  fill  in  the  Lake  Front  and  construct  its 
parks  over  a  stretch  of  five  miles.  Then  the  real  hitch 
developed. 

Nothing  could  be  done  in  the  lake  until  a  permit  was 
had  from  the  War  Department  of  the  United  States, 
as  the  federal  government  has  jurisdiction  over  all  the 
navigable  waterways  of  the  land.  Accordingly,  in  No- 
vember, 191 3,  the  strongest  delegation  of  Chicagoans 
that  ever  departed  for  Washington  on  a  Chicago  mis- 
sion of  need  visited  the  capital,  headed  by  Mayor  Carter 
H.  Harrison,  the  chairman  of  the  Plan  Commission,  and 
the  executive  heads  of  the  contending  governmental 
bodies  and  the  presidents  of  all  the  leading  civic  clubs 
and  associations.  This  delegation  was  truly  representa- 
tive of  the  entire  city  and  all  elements  in  it.  Its 
appeal  was  heard  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  advised 
the  delegation  that  he  could  not  accede  to  its  request 
until  proper  harbor  provisions  were  encompassed  in  the 
park  plans,  and  until  the  City  Council  had  acted  on  the 
matter.  The  delegation  returned  to  Chicago  to  comply 
as  quickly  and  fully  as  possible  with  the  demands  of  the 
War  Department. 

The  Plan  Commission  set  to  work  at  once  to  adjust 
the  Plan  of  Chicago  to  the  requirements  of  the  gov- 
ernment for  harbor  facilities  in  the  zone  affected.     In 

393 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

this  the  commission  was  assisted  by  the  leading  engineers 
of  the  city,  including  those  of  the  municipality  and  other 
public  bodies.  At  length  a  new  plan  was  made  which 
entirely  covered  the  harbor  situation  and  which  provided 
many  other  desirable  details  not  included  in  the  original 
plan.  These  plans  were  submitted  to  the  leading  civic 
associations,  shipping  organizations,  yachting  and  boat- 
ing clubs,  and  many  citizen  bodies,  with  the  result  that 
they  were  unanimously  approved. 

Finally,  in  November,  19 14,  the  Council  Committee 
on  Harbors,  Wharves,  and  Bridges  instructed  the  city's 
legal  and  engineering  departments,  the  Chicago  Plan 
Commission  officials  and  the  South  Park  officials  to 
submit  a  joint  recommendation  to  it  covering  a  plan  har- 
monizing all  interests.  This  resulted  in  the  submission 
of  the  commission's  plan  already  outlined. 

Council  committee  hearings  ensued  and  in  January, 
1 91 6,  final  plans  were  agreed  upon  and  an  ordinance  was 
adopted  by  the  Council  Committee.  This  was  rejected 
by  the  Illinois  Central  Company  because  it  wanted  cer- 
tain rights  which  the  city  would  not  grant.  The  com- 
pany was  then  asked  to  submit  definite  plans  for  its  vast 
terminal  scheme  so  that  the  city  could  decide  what  fur- 
ther demands,  if  any,  should  be  made  upon  the  company 
in  behalf  of  the  municipality  before  a  final  ordinance 
could  be  approved  by  all  parties  concerned. 

The  company's  plans  were  submitted  to  the  City 
Council  in  September,  191 6,  but  no  agreement  was 
reached,  the  negotiations  splitting  on  the  rock  of  general 
electrification  of  its  entire  track  layout,  which  loomed 
in  these  hearings  as  a  new  element  of  consideration.    A 

394 


iXRARI 
OF  THE 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

prior  ordinance  had  been  introduced  in  the  City  Council, 
demanding  the  general  electrification  of  all  railroads  in 
Chicago,  and  the  Council  Committee,  hearing  the  Lake 
Front  case,  imposed  this  obligation  upon  the  Illinois 
Central  Company  as  a  part  of  the  ordinance  under  con- 
sideration for  the  improvement  of  the  Lake  Front.  The 
company  indicated  its  willingness  to  electrify  its  sub- 
urban tracks  but  contended  beyond  that  it  could  not  go, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  general  electrification  of  all 
the  roads  in  Chicago  was  not  feasible  at  the  time,  and 
that,  if  it  electrified  its  own  general  system,  including  its 
new  terminal,  other  roads  designed  to  use  its  terminal 
could  not  do  so  as  steam  power  in  an  electrified  terminal 
would  be  out  of  the  question. 

Meanwhile  the  war  caused  the  resignation  of  Presi- 
dent Markham  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany, who  became  a  regional  director  of  railroads,  and 
this  and  other  war  conditions  put  a  temporary  stop  to 
further  negotiations. 

A  new  ordinance  was  drafted,  which  it  was  believed 
would  meet  all  the  essential  requirements  of  all  parties 
concerned,  and  with  the  reconvening  of  the  City  Coun- 
cil in  the  fall  of  191 8  negotiations  were  again  entered 
into,  which  the  Plan  Commission  was  hopeful  would 
prove  serious  and  final. 

City  planning  is  still  so  much  in  its  infancy  in  the 
United  States  —  there  is  yet  so  much  to  be  impressed 
upon  the  people  —  that  even  remarkable  public  benefits 
such  as  Chicago's  Lake  Front  plans  propose  are  delayed 
indefinitely  at  the  expense  of  the  public  welfare. 

The   Plan   of   Chicago   provides    for  a   complete  re- 

395 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

modeling  of  the  shore  Hue  for  the  distance  of  twenty- 
one  miles  from  the  Indiana  line  on  the  south  to  the 
fashionable  suburb,  Wilmette,  on  the  north. 

In  planning  the  Lake  Front  parks,  the  architects  took 
into  account  the  public  demand  for  extensive  areas  of 
pleasure  grounds.  They  recognized  the  desire  of  the 
people  to  have  a  place  for  motor  boating,  yachting,  row- 
ing, bathing,  and  other  water  enjoyments.  So  their 
plans  provide  for  islands  covering  hundreds  of  acres 
along  the  shore,  also  for  a  wide  watercourse  extending 
for  miles  along  the  city's  front  bordered  by  park  lands 
on  either  side,  to  form  one  of  the  finest  courses  in  the 
world  for  rowing  regattas,  motor  boat,  and  yacht  races, 
and  other  forms  of  aquatic  sport. 

All  the  park  authorities  of  Chicago  had  worked  stead- 
ily toward  the  ideas  of  the  Lake  Front  plans  in  the  Plan 
of  Chicago,  and  notwithstanding  the  delay  in  starting 
work  on  the  proposed  south  shore  development,  more 
than  two  hundred  acres  were  added  to  Lincoln  Park  on 
the  north  shore  during  191 5.  The  new  park  land  ex- 
tends for  a  distance  of  a  mile.  It  was  made  by  filling 
in  the  lake.  A  yacht  harbor  2,600  feet  long  and  1,000 
feet  wide  has  been  constructed  there.  This  new  park 
area  also  includes  a  lagoon,  picnic  island,  rowing  pond, 
extensive  play  fields,  bathing  beaches,  and  a  golf  course 
—  all  skirting  the  famous  and  fashionable  Sheridan 
Road.  This  work  cost  oiily  $1,875,000.  The  land  thus 
made  is  estimated  to  be  worth  at  least  $15,000,000. 
Its  recreational  worth  to  the  people  of  Chicago  could  not 
be  estimated  at  any  price.  When  the  Lake  Front  plans 
are  completed,  both  north  and  south,  an  outer  Lake  Shore 

39^ 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

Drive  is  to  be  constructed  to  connect  the  north-  and  south- 
side  park  systems. 

While  this  park  activity  has  been  taking  place  on  the 
north  side  there  also  has  been  a  wonderful  work  of  har- 
bor development  in  progress.  Five  million  dollars  has 
been  expended  upon  a  municipal  pier  of  unequalled  char- 
acter and  dignity.  The  pier  extends  into  the  lake  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  at  a  point  immediately  north 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River.  A  small  park  has 
been  created  at  the  shore  end,  designed  to  fit  in  with 
the  general  plan.  The  pier  is  292  feet  wide.  It  ends 
in  two  majestic  towers  which  stand  as  sentinels  guarding 
the  entrance  to  Chicago's  harbor.  It  is  a  tremendous 
steel  and  concrete  building  with  countless  windows. 
Freight  cars  and  locomotives  enter  on  the  ground  floor 
and  the  street  cars  discharge  passengers  directly  above 
on  the  upper  level  of  the  pier.  The  pier  is  the  lake  pas- 
senger clearing-house  for  Chicago  as  well  as  the  terminal 
point  for  the  handling  of  an  immense  amount  of  freight. 
Lake  steamers  dock  on  both  sides  of  it,  and  thousands 
of  excursionists  daily  embark  there  during  the  summer 
season.  An  elaborate  system  of  roof  promenades  has 
been  provided  and  from  them  the  public  is  able  to  enjoy 
without  cost  the  constantly  moving  panorama  of  Chi- 
cago's marvelous  Lake  Front  activity.  During  the  war 
a  part  of  this  pier  was  used  by  the  United  States  govern- 
ment as  a  training  school  for  naval  officers. 

Near  the  outer  end  of  this  immense  municipal  im- 
provement is  a  huge  recreation  building.  It  contains 
an  auditorium  seating  4,000  people.  Commodious  concert 
and  dance  halls,  rooms  for  the  amusement  of  children, 

397 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

restaurants,  and  rest  rooms  are  also  provided.  It  is 
estimated  that  there  is  ample  room  for  100,000  people 
to  enjoy  the  lake  breezes  and  be  entertained  on  this  pier 
at  one  time.  The  view  from  the  outer  end  of  the  pier 
commands  the  unbroken  curve  of  Chicago's  lake  shore 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  see. 

If  the  people,  of  Chicago  could  sense  a  hundredth 
fraction  of  what  the  realization  of  the  entire  Lake  Front 
development  will  mean  to  them,  they  would  rise  to  its 
defense  with  a  demand  that  would  be  loud  and  insistent 
—  a  demand  that  would  produce  action  in  short  order. 

A  great  city  —  favored  with  a  splendid  water  expanse 
skirting  its  main  thoroughfare,  not  miles  distant  as  in 
New  York,  but  reaching  beyond  the  eye  of  man  and 
flowing  past  its  very  doors  for  three  leagues,  every  foot 
of  which  easily  can  be  developed  into  beauty  spots  and 
pleasure  grounds  accessible  to  all  the  people  —  is  indeed 
blind  to  its  wonderful  heritage  if  it  does  not  quickly  and 
certainly  seize  and  lay  fast  hold  upon  it.  Such  is  Chi- 
cago's opportunity  —  the  chance  in  a  million  to  gain  for 
itself  the  most  magnificent  water  front  on  the  face  of 
the  civilized  globe. 

A  city  with  such  a  golden  opportunity,  from  center 
to  circumference,  man  to  man,  should  fall  in  behind 
its  Flan  Commission  in  a  solid  phalanx  for  its  certain 
and  early  realization. 

Chicago  is  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  beautiful  un- 
dulating plains  covered  with  natural  woodland  and 
sparkling  streams.  Ideal  spots,  these,  for  fagged  city 
folk  to  spend  a  holiday  far  from  the  city's  noise  and 
fatigue  but  near  enough  for  the  convenience  of  family 

398 


m.-^ 


.^^0^' 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

outings.  Thousands  of  acres  close  to  the  city's  limits 
are  being  converted  into  natural  playgrounds  for  all 
the  people. 

Modern  cities  have  learned  that  they  must  not  confine 
their  park  land  projects  to  their  own  limits  but  must  go 
beyond  them  and  out  into  the  open  country  to  provide 
recreation  areas  for  their  people.  Every  European  cap- 
ital has  its  forest  park  outside  of  its  limits  but  within 
easy  reach  of  its  people.  Thus,  in  summer,  London, 
Paris,  Berlin,  and  Vienna  on  holidays  are  almost  deserted 
by  their  millions,  the  people  dispersing  to  the  open  coun- 
try park  lands  and  the  forests  set  aside  for  their  use  and 
enjoyment  forever.  In  this  country  other  cities,  notably 
New  York,  in  its  acquirement  of  the  picturesque  country 
along  the  Hudson  River,  are  gaining  outer  territory  for 
park  purposes. 

The  people  of  Chicago  are  proud  that  their  city  has 
been  one  of  the  most  progressive  in  America  in  the  mat- 
ter of  forest  preserves.  There  is  no  more  beautiful 
country  anywhere  than  the  wooded  territory  around 
Chicago.  Far-seeing  men  and  women  have  looked  ahead 
to  the  time  when  large  areas  for  public  recreation  will 
be  difficult  to  obtain.  They,  therefore  started  a  move- 
ment many  years  ago  to  secure  outer  park  areas  for 
Chicago.  Before  these  could  be  acquired,  the  people, 
in  their  strong  desire  for  the  open  country,  began  to 
trespass  in  great  numbers  upon  the  property  of  farm 
owners. 

In  1904  a  body  known  as  the  Metropolitan  Park  Com- 
mission was  appointed.  It  made  a  report  in  favor  of  se- 
curing between  thirty-five  and  forty  thousand  acres  of 

399 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

forest  parks  encircling  the  city.  The  commission  wanted 
forest  land  conserved  in  its  native  state  for  the  benefit 
of  the  people.  Its  recommendations  were  used  as  the 
basis  for  the  forest  preserve  feature  of  the  Plan  of 
Chicago. 

In  June,  1913,  as  a  result  of  years  of  effort  and  agi- 
tation, the  Legislature  of  Illinois  passed  a  forest  pre- 
serve bill.  The  bill  authorizes  county  commissioners  to 
become  forest  preserve  district  commissioners.  The  law 
provides  for  the  taking  of  private  lands  for  forest  pre- 
serves to  be  secured  and  maintained  for  the  benefit  of 
the  public.  In  November,  19 14,  all  of  Cook  County, 
in  which  Chicago  is  located,  became  a  forest  preserve 
district.  This  was  by  a  vote  of  the  people,  who  gave  the 
project   their   support  by   the   very   large  majority   of 

103.543- 

In  February,  191 5,  the  forest  preserve  district  of  Cook 
County  was  formally  organized  and  steps  taken  for  the 
purchase  of  available  sites.  A  delay  of  a  year  ensued 
because  of  litigation  in  the  courts  to  determine  the  legal- 
ity of  the  forest  preserve  law.  The  state  law  was  held 
legal  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  in  February, 
1916.  At  the  sixth  annual  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Plan 
Commission  in  March,  19 16,  the  president  of  the  Forest 
Preserve  Board  reported  that  a  bond  issue  of  one  mil- 
lion dollars  had  been  authorized.  He  promised  that  im- 
mediate steps  would  be  taken  to  acquire  property  for 
the  first  of  the  wooded  preserves.  Shortly  after  this  the 
actual  purchasing  of  property  began. 

The  forestry  board's  policy  is  to  provide  forest  areas 
within  easy  reach  of  every  district  in  Chicago.     This 

400 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

will  be  done  by  selecting  some  of  the  land  in  each  of 
the  five  locations  suggested  in  the  Plan  of  Chicago, 
These  are  held  to  be  the  best  available  sites  for  these 
magnificent  outer  parks.  In  the  Plan  of  Chicago  are 
proposals  to  secure  54,572  acres  of  forest  land.  The 
investment  is  certain  to  be  of  huge  profit  to  Chicago  in 
the  increased  health  and  happiness  of  its  people. 

The  spaces  to  be  acquired  are  wild  forests.  Here  are 
trees,  vines,  flowers,  and  shrubs  such  as  grow  in  this 
climate.  Country  roads  and  paths  will  be  cut  through 
them  and  the  people  will  be  allowed  and  encouraged  to 
use  them  freely.  At  the  north  the  forest  parks  selected 
are  those  of  the  famous  Skokie  Valley  and  Chicago 
River,  comprising  10,972  acres.  To  the  northwest  it  is 
proposed  to  secure  19,065  acres  in  the  -Desplaines  River 
Valley.  These  preserves  extend  southward  along  the 
entire  western  edge  of  the  city  and  contain  some  notable 
and  beautiful  watercourses.  All  these  forests  may  be 
reached  by  electric  cars  from  any  part  of  Chicago  — 
all  are  within  an  hour's  ride.  Still  farther  westward 
7,961  acres  of  the  Elmhurst  and  Salt  Creek  country  have 
been  recommended.  This  land  is  wild,  rugged,  and  im- 
pressive in  natural  scenic  beauty.  To  the  southwest- 
ward  the  Plan  of  Chicago  recommends  securing  12,064 
acres  along  the  Desplaines  River  and  in  the  vicinity  of 
Mount  Forest,  where  the  country  is  high  and  wooded  and 
affords  superb  views.  The  Lake  Calumet  region  —  much 
of  it  within  the  city  limits  —  is  considered  as  affording 
most  attractive  territory  to  acquire  for  forests  for  the 
people.  Many  other  desirable  preserves  lie  beyond  that 
toward    the    famous    industrial   city,    Chicago    Heights. 

401 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

These  preserves,  embracing  more  than  4,000  acres,  lying 
close  to  the  great  southerly  steel  and  industrial  section 
of  the  city,  would  be  highly  desirable  as  affording  to 
the  workers  of  that  sector  opportunities  for  healthful 
rest  and  recreation. 

Because  of  tlie  activity  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commis- 
sion in  behalf  of  the  forest  preserve  enactmenFand  the 
recommendations  for  the  forest  preserve  areas  in  the 
Plan  of  Chicago,  the  chairman  of  the  commission,  Mr. 
Yi^ciclcetPwas  appointed  a  member  of  the  Plan  Com- 
mittee of  the  Board  of  Forest  Preserve  Commissioners 
for  the  forest  preserve  district  of  Cook  County.  The 
actual  acquisition  of  these  forest  areas  began  August  3, 
1916,  when  the  board  started  proceedings  to  acquire,  by 
condemnation,  eighty  acres  of  forest  in  the  beautiful 
Palos  Park.  It  has  since  purchased  12,575  acres  in  the 
various  forest  preserve  areas  at  a  cost  of  $4,274,000. 
The  board  in  the  latter  part  of  19 18  had  under  contract 
and  condemnation  approximately  673  acres  additional 
which  will  cost  $226,000.  Its  purchases  will  continue 
until  the  entire  acreage  recommended  has  been  acquired. 

These  six  great  improvement  projects  —  the  widen- 
ing of  Twelfth  Street,  the  Michigan  Avenue  extension, 
the  west  side  railway  terminals,  the  widening  of  Canal 
Street,  the  Lake  Front  plans  and  the  forest  preserves 
— 'Comprise  the  initial  work  of  the  Plan  Commission  and 
the  public  authorities  on  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  They 
are  the  basic  essentials  of  the  Plan  upon  which  actual 
construction  has  been  started.  All  of  these  will  be  fin- 
ished as  rapidly'  as  conditions  resulting  from  the  war 
will  permit.     This  gigantic  work,  when  completed,  will 

402 


GREATEST  CITY  PLAxNNING  BOARD 

show  a  total  cost  of  $134,000,000.  This  figure  includes 
the  cost  of  the  north  shore  Lake  Front  plans  and  the 
estimated  cost  of  the  new  Illinois  Central  terminal  and 
collateral  improvements  when  that  construction  is  started. 

Sixteen  million  dollars  more  may  be  added  to  this 
for  the  improvements  which  have  followed  in  the  wake 
of  the  general  Plan  movements.  These  are  the  cost  of 
making  the  land  for  and  the  erection  of  the  Field  Mu- 
seum, the  building  of  the  Municipal  Pier  and  adjacent 
improvements,  and  the  bathing  beaches  and  other  Lake 
Front  construction.  Provided  for  in  special  ways,  these 
are  not  a  part  of  the  Plan  Commission  work,  but  are 
closely  affiliated  with  it. 

By  no  means  do  these  six  fundamental  improvements 
already  begun  represent  the  entire  endeavors  of  the  Plan 
Commission  on  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  Other  important 
projects  are  the  extension  of  Ogden  Avenue  (a  diagonal 
thoroughfare)  from  Union  to  Lincoln  parks,  the  pur- 
chase of  a  two-block  post-office  site  on  Canal  Street,  the 
reclamation  and  improvement  of  South  Water  Street, 
the  widening  of  Western  Avenue,  the  North  Ashland 
Avenue  extension,  the  outer  boulevard  connection,  the 
East  Twelfth  Street  connection  to  the  Field  Museum, 
new  bridges  and  the  completion  of  the  exterior  high- 
way system.  Each  of  these  units  of  the  great  Plan  have 
been  thoroughly  studied  and  recommended  by  the  com- 
mission. The  cost  of  their  construction  can  only  be 
estimated  —  it  is  approximately  $40,000,000.  Work 
upon  these  has  not  yet  been  started. 

The  Ogden  Avenue  extension  will  be  a  diagonal  cut 
108  feet  wide  and  2.7  miles  long  through  an  area  of 

403 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

low  value.  It  will  require  three  subways  under  rail- 
road tracks,  a  railroad  viaduct  over  another  system  of 
roads  and  two  new  bridges  across  the  north  branch  of 
the  Chicago  River.  The  total  cost  of  this  improvement 
is  estimated  at  $4,649,000.  This  will  be  the  first  diag- 
onal street  improvement  in  the  Plan  of  Chicago,  of 
which  there  are  many  planned.  It  will  be  useful  as  a 
military  road  leading  to  Fort  Sheridan  from  a  soutli- 
westerly  to  a  northeasterly  direction.  To  the  south- 
ward it  will  connect  with  the  forest  preserves  and  will 
penetrate  a  rich  adjacent  farming  district  connecting 
with  important  suburban  cities.  Passing  through  thickly 
populated  districts  in  the  city,  the  street  will  directly 
benefit  200,000  people  living  or  working  within  the  area 
of  half  a  mile  from  it  and  100,000  more  along  the  exist- 
ing part  of  Ogden  Avenue.  It  will  give  a  direct  means 
of  reaching  Lincoln  Park,  the  Municipal  Pier,  and  Lake 
Michigan  to  a  large  industrial  population  which  at  pres- 
ent is  not  adequately  served  with  recreational  facilities. 
Work  on  the  survey  was  ordered  by  the  city  in  the  sum- 
mer of  191 7  and  a  public  hearing  for  court  proceedings 
to  acquire  the  necessary  property  was  held  December  3, 
19 1 8,  in  the  City  Council  Chamber,  which  was  crowded 
to  capacity  with  property  owners  whose  property  would 
be  taken.  An  interesting  situation  developed  at  this 
hearing  in  contrast  to  the  early  efforts  of  the  city  and 
the  Plan  Commission  in  the  initial  stages  of  the  Twelfth 
Street  widening  case,  where  the  property  owners  were 
massed  against  the  improvement.  At  the  Ogden  Ave- 
nue hearing  the  property  owners  unanimously  adopted 
a  resolution  asking  the  Board  of  Local  Improvements 

404 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

to  proceed  with  the  improvement  at  once.  January  7, 
19 19,  the  Board  of  Local  Improvements  unanimously 
approved  the  Ogden  Avenue  extension  and  drafted  an 
ordinance,  which  was  passed  by  the  City  Council  on  Feb- 
ruary 18,  19 19,  by  a  vote  of  forty-six  to  eight. 

For  years  Chicago  has  been  harassed  with  inadequate 
postal  facilities.  This  has  worked  a  hardship  upon  a 
vast  adjacent  territory  as  Chicago  is  the  mail  distribut- 
ing center  of  the  entire  country.  After  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  situation,  the  Plan  Commission 
recommended  a  two-block  post-office  site  on  Canal  Street 
between  the  Northwestern  and  Union  stations,  where 
sixty-two  per  cent  of  the  entire  mail  of  the  city  is 
handled.  On  November  i,  1915,  the  Plan  Commission 
arranged  a  public  hearing  with  the  then  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  Hon.  William  G.  McAdoo,  to  whom  exhaus- 
tive arguments  were  presented.  In  these  it  was  shown 
that  although  Chicago's  postal  receipts  were  the  great- 
est in  the  United  States,  only  a  fractional  part  of  the 
money  expended  by  the  government  in  providing  postal 
facilities  in  other  large  cities  had  been  expended  on  the 
postal  system  in  Chicago,  Following  this  hearing  dele- 
gations appeared  in  Washington,  backed  by  the  volun- 
tary support  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-six  cities  in 
nineteen  states,  directly  affected,  in  resolutions  from  busi- 
ness and  civic  interests  urging  Congress  to  provide  ade- 
quate postal  facilities  fot  Chicago.  This  resulted  in  the 
necessary  item  for  the  purchase  of  the  site  selected  being 
recommended  by  the  Public  Buildings  Committee  of  the 
House  and  included  by  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
the  Public  Buildings  Bill  of  19 17.    This  bill  was  pending 

405 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

in  the  Senate  when  the  United  States  entered  the  Great 
War,  and  all  appropriation  bills  of  this  nature  which  had 
reached  the  Senate  and  had  not  been  passed  by  it  were 
held  in  abeyance. 

Chicago  will  continue  its  fight  for  adequate  postal 
facilities  until  its  great  need,  so  important  to  the  entire 
nation,  is  realized. 

The  second  largest  produce  market  in  the  United 
States  is  in  Chicago.  Its  annual  business  runs  into  tens 
of  millions  of  dollars.  This  vast  enterprise  in  food- 
stuffs, which  affects  the  welfare  of  the  people  most  im- 
portantly, is  being  conducted  in  a  most  improper  and 
uneconomic  way.  Besides  the  abuses  to  which  it  is  sub- 
jected, involving  the  interests  of  the  entire  community, 
it  has  almost  completely  absorbed  for  its  private  use 
one  of  the  most  important  public  thoroughfares  in  the 
city.  This  is  South  Water  Street,  the  northern  bound- 
ary of  the  Loop  district  bordering  the  main  channel 
of  the  Chicago  River — a  stone's  throw  from  the  wcvrld's 
busiest  retail  shopping  district.  Its  overflow  business 
clogs  several  important  central  north  and  south  busi- 
ness streets  —  such  a  notable  thoroughfare  as  State 
Street,  for  instance — with  peddlers'  and  grocers'  carts 
and  wagons.  Its  occupancy  of  this  important  district 
seriously  retards  the  entire  traffic  of  the  city's  central 
section.  The  Plan  Commission  has  recommended  the 
removal  of  the  produce  market,  the  reclamation  of  South 
Water  Street  for  the  use  of  all  the  people  and  its  two- 
level  improvement  to  connect  with  the  new  extension  of 
Michigan  Avenue.  These  plans  provide  for  the  taking 
of  all  the  property  between  the  north  line  of  the  street 

406 


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GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

and  the  river  —  a  strip  of  about  eighty  feet  —  and  adding 
this  to  the  area  of  the  improved  thoroughfare.  The  esti- 
mated cost  of  this  improvement  is  $5,282,680.  The 
commission's  report  on  this  matter,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  comprehensive  of  its  many  remarkable  documents, 
shows  how  this  entire  cost  could  be  saved  in  a  single 
year,  and  the  people  of  Chicago  could  annually  be  saved 
$5,000,000  thereafter.  This  item  of  saving  is  made  up 
from  the  present  loss  on  perishable  foodstufifs,  loss  on 
the  present  cost  of  handling  foodstuffs,  annual  revenue 
to  the  city  from  certain  concessions,  annual  saving  to 
commercial  interests  through  remodeling  the  street,  and 
annual  saving  in  street  traffic  delays.  The  report  shows 
that  the  reclamation  of  South  Water  Street  would  take 
15,714  vehicle  trips  daily  out  of  the  Loop  district  and 
reduce  its  congestion  sixteen  per  cent.  The  city  has  not 
yet  taken  action  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Plan 
Commission,  but  the  Association  of  Commerce  has  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  assist  the  produce  merchants  in 
solving  the  problem  of  a  new  market  site,  and  officials' 
of  the  United  States  government  have  also  taken  a  hand 
in  the  matter. 

The  outer  boulevard  connection  is  one  of  many  im- 
portant traffic  measures  proposed  in  the  entire  Plan  of 
Chicago.  Its  plan  is  to  connect  Grant  and  Lincoln  parks 
with  a  rapid  way  by  carrying  a  lake  shore  avenue  across 
the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River  on  made  land  paral- 
leling the  breakwater  for  a  distance  of  one-third  of  a 
mile.  This  would  divert  a  large  part  of  the  north-  and 
south-bound  automobile  traffic  from  Michigan  Avenue 
and  would  thus  tremendously  relieve  and  facilitate  the 

407 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

movement  of  all  the  central  traffic,  besides  providing 
an  easy  route  for  through-bound  light  traffic.  Com- 
mittees of  the  South  Park  and  Lincoln  Park  Commis- 
sions are  working  this  project  out  in  cooperation  with 
the  Plan  Commission. 

The  East  Twelfth  Street  extension  to  the  Field  Mu- 
seum is  bound  up  in  the  negotiations  of  the  city  with 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company.  It  is  provided 
for  in  a  general  agreement  ratified  by  the  court  between 
the  company  and  the  South  Park  Commissioners.  The 
new  Field  Museum  was  erected  on  the  new  south  line  of 
the  widened  East  Twelfth  Street.  It  is  situated  on 
new-made  ground  at  the  foot  of  Twelfth  Street  on  the 
Lake  Front.  This  is  half  a  mile  east  of  Michigan  Ave- 
nue, whereas  the  Twelfth  Street  widening  proper  ends 
at  the  west  line  of  Michigan  Avenue.  Directly  in  the 
path  of  the  eastern  extension,  which  will  be  a  raised 
street  one  hundred  and  eighteen  feet  wide,  lies  the  pres- 
ent station  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  This  is  to 
come  down  and  the  land  upon  which  it  stands  is  to  be 
made  a  part  of  the  East  Twelfth  Street  extension.  The 
new  Illinois  Central  Station  will  set  back  on  the  same 
line  with  the  Field  Museum  and  architecturally  will 
confor^i  with  it.  Work  upon  it  cannot  be  started  until 
the  city  concludes  an  agreement  with  the  Illinois  Central 
Company  in  connection  with  the  entire  south  shore  Lake 
Front  improvement. 

Chicago  is  the  pinnacle  of  three  important  encircling 
highway  systems  cross-cut  by  suburban  roads  which  pen- 
etrate to  the  city.  A  half  million  people  live  within  a 
forty  mile  circuit  of  Chicago.     In  this  zone  are  many 

408 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

important  and  thriving  towns.  It  contains  also  the  vast 
chain  of  forest  preserve  parks  already  purchased  and 
those  to  be  acquired.  The  Plan  of  Chicago  provides 
for  the  proper  connection  of  these  suburban  towns  with 
each  other  and  with  Chicago.  It  provides  also  for  the 
proper  connection  of  the  forest  preserves,  each  with  the 
other,  and  all  with  the  city.  At  the  November  election 
in  19 18,  the  people  of  the  state  voted  a  sixty  million  dol- 
lar bond  issue  with  which  to  build  forty-six  routes  of 
hard  roads  in  Illinois.  Those  will  include  all  such  roads 
in  the  Plan  of  Chicago  in  the  exterior  highway  zone  as 
are  not  yet  built. 

Out  of  the  total  of  the  items  on  the  Plan  of  Chicago 
already  approved,  amounting  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
million  dollars,  by  far  the  major  part  is  to  be  borne  by 
railroad  and  private  corporations.  That  part  to  be  paid 
by  the  taxpayers  is  relatively  not  large,  but  they  will  be 
the  beneficiaries  of  the  remarkable  whole  and  vastly 
more;  and  when  Chicago  has  acquired  the  park  lands 
to  be  created  by  filling  in  the  Lake  Front,  the  city  will 
have  realized  a  public  improvement  worth  forty-six  mil- 
lion dollars,  for  which  the  taxpayers  did  not  have  to  pay 
a  single  dollar. 

This  enormous  outlay  for  public  betterments,  including 
their  value  when  finished,  totals  more  than  half  the  cost 
of  the  entire  original  Haussmann  Plan  for  Paris,  two 
hundred  and  sixty-five  million  dollars ;  and  this  is  only  a 
beginning  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago.  Such  a  program  for 
the  public  good  may  well  be  a  matter  of  pride  and  re- 
joicing to  the  people  of  Chicago,  as  they  have  a  proprie- 
tary interest  in  the  whole  big  undertaking,  while  their 

409 


'    WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

share  in  the  cost  is  but  a  fraction.  Nor  is  this  all  that  is 
contemplated  in  the  near  future.  Other  vast  improve- 
ments of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  whole  city  have  been 
recommended  by  the  Railway  Terminal  Commission,  fol- 
lowing out  the  suggestions  of  the  chairman  of  the  Plan 
Commission.  These,  which  are  being  worked  out  looking 
to  a  final  adjustment,  are  the  straightening  of  the  south 
branch  of  the  Chicago  River,  and  the  opening  through 
railway  property  of  the  now  closed  Market,  Franklin, 
Wells,  La  Salle,  and  Dearborn  streets,  all  great  north- 
and-south  thoroughfares  leading  to  the  center  of  the  city. 
The  present  total  number  of  north-and-south  streets  from 
Michigan  Avenue  to  Halsted  Street  is  twenty-four,  but 
only  four  of  them  go  through  the  central  section  of  the 
city  from  Twelfth  Street  to  Chicago  Avenue. 

The  City  Council  of  Chicago,  at  its  meeting  on  Febru- 
ary 26,  1919,  passed  an  order  directing  the  Board  of 
Local  Improvements  to  prepare  and  submit  to  it  an  ordi- 
nance for  the  widening  and  improvement  of  South  Water 
Street,  of  Ashland  Avenue  and  Western  Avenue  and  of 
Robey  Street  following  the  recommendations  of  the  Chi- 
cago Plan  Commission's  Reconstruction  Platform.  The 
City  Council  thus  recognized  the  utmost  importance  of 
providing  these  public  improvements  so  vitally  impor- 
tant in  the  interest  of  the  whole  city  and  furnishing  large 
opportunity  for  the  employment  of  labor  during  the 
city's  transition  from  a  war  to  a  peace  basis. 

This  simple,  matter-of-fact  narrative  of  the  efforts  of 
the  Chicago  Plan  Commission,  the  work  of  the  city 
authorities,  and  the  accomplishments  on  the  Plan  of 
Chicago  may  mean  little  or  much  to  the  reader.     That 

410 


GREATEST  CITY  PLANNING  BOARD 

depends  entirely  upon  the  imagination  —  one's  ability 
to  sense  the  bigness  of  things  —  to  compass  the  breadth 
of  things  —  to  penetrate  the  future  —  and  to_  compre- 
hend the  tremendous "^THiTray^iTr^aiience,  time,  propa- 
ganda, and  money  to  produce  even  a  start  on  such 
projects. 

""^TTie  proceedings  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commission, 
covering  many  memorable  meetings,  will  live  in  history 
and  will  illuminate  the  way  of  citizens  and  workers  for 
the  public  good  in  the  dim  and  distant  future.  This 
wealth  of  data  accumulated  at  such  effort  of  time  and 
expense  will  undoubtedly  be  eagerly  sought  by  the  Plan 
advocates,  historical  students,  and  writers  who  come 
after  those  who  have  carried  the  burden  of  this  work. 
The  ultimate  triumph  of  the  Plan  of  Chicago  and  its 
realization  is  in  the  hands  of  Chicago's  children  who  will 
be  the  citizens  of  tomorrow.  The  really  great  work  of 
the  world  today  is  that  which  foresees  and  builds  for  the 
__future —  ■.'■-'.< 


411 


CHAPTER  XVI 

SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

GLANCING  backward  over  the  path  traversed,  it  is 
evident  that  the  constant  and  unprecedented  move- 
ment of  people  toward  cities  has  brought  about  alarming 
conditions,  new  and  troublesome  problems  and  an  im- 
perative need  for  municipal  betterments.  Fifty  years 
ago  ninety-seven  out  of  every  one  hundred  people  in  the 
United  States  lived  in  the  country.  Today  fifty-four  out 
of  every  hundred  live  in  cities.  ' 

The  life  of  a  nation  is  the  li/e  of  its  people  and  the 
public  health  is  the  nation's  greatest  asset.  As  a  result 
of  the  swarming  of  people  to  cities  there  has  been  a 
marked  deterioration  in  their  physique,  a  change  in  the 
national  character,  and  vast  economic  loss.  In  the  days 
of  the  Civil  War  the  country  was  nurtured  by  the  sturdy, 
healthy,  honest,  and  capable  countryman,  Now  the  city 
and  the  country  equally  supply  the  nation  with  leaders, 
statesmen,  the  army,  the  navy,  and  civilians.  Our  na- 
tional life  will  be  great  or  dwarfed  just  in  proportion  as 
the  life  of  the  people  is  broad  and  developed  or  mean 
and  stunted. 

Whether  the  future  reign  of  the  world  shall  be  peace- 
ful or  turbulent  —  whether  tomorrow  may  usher  in  a 
contest  of  wits  among  nations  or  a  new  and  more  terri- 
ble contest  of  brawn  —  the  supreme  nation  will  be  the 

412 


\y*liLM:J 


SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

one  of  strong  individual  manhood.    The  strongest  nation-^ 
will  t>e  that  one  which  does  the  most  for  its  people  in      i^\\ur^ 
cities   through   ample   means    for   healthful   recreation. \   4-^ 
literature  of  character,   music  placed   within  the  reach  ^Jqc/^ 
of  all,  the  allied  arts  and  sciences  made  easy  of  attain- 
ment, and  the  facilitation  of  commerce,  traffic,  and  trans- 
portation.   If  the  nation  is  to  hp  kept  from  those  pursuits 
and  pastimes  which  cause  decay,  degeneracy,  and  disin-^''^ 
tegration,  industrial  and  vocational  education  and  every 
means  of  self -advancement  —  cultural  as  well  as  indus- 
trial, hygienic  as  well  as  psychological  —  must  be  sup- 
plied. 

The  need  of  the  people  in  cities  has  been  intensified  by 
the  Great  War.  New  and  sinister  meaning  was  given  by 
the  great  conflict  to  the  word  "  preparedness."  As  a  rule 
the  development  of  American  cities  has  been  haphazard 
and  their  growth  exhibits  a  woeful  lack  of  foresight. 
Nor  is  that  all,  for  our  national  habit  of  procrastination 
has  placed  a  tremendous  burden  upon  our  people,  Every 
city,  like  every  business,  has  to  bear  certain  overhead 
charges  as  a  whole,  by  reason  of  preventive  sickness, 
death,  accidents,  disasters,  and  lack  of  proper  health  pro- 
visions. The  preventable  economic  losses  in  the  United 
States  —  six  hundred  million  dollars  —  from  typhoid 
fever  deaths;  the  seventy -five  million  dollar  economic 
value  of  the  reduction  in  Chicago's  typhus  death  rate  for 
the  twelve  years  following  the  opening  of  the  Drainage 
Canal ;  the  loss  from  floods,  epidemics,  fires,  railroad  and 
steamboat  accidents,  and  the  cost  of  the  Panama  Canal 
slides  —  if  they  could  be  computed,  would  amount  to  a 
staggering  total  —  sufficient  to  jar  our  people   into   a 

413 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

realization  that  preparedness,  no  matter  what  the  cost,  is 
cheapest  in  the  end. 

Now  we  know  better  and  must  not  permit  our  old 
habits  of  procrastination  and  unpreparedness  to  control 
i^  our  actions  in  safeguarding  our  people,  ^here  is  no 
further  time  to  be  lost  in  beginning  the  proper  building 
of  cities  in  America.  Basic  in  scientific  city  planning  are 
provisions  for  more  breathing  spaces,  freedom  from  dirt, 
noise,  and  confusion,  more  attractive  surroundings,  easier 
means  of  traffic  movement,  and  better  means  for  health- 
iul  recreation. 

Having  in  mind  the  powerful  influence  which  these 
characteristics  and  the  temperament  of  the  American 
people  have  on  city  planning,  let  us  briefly  recount  those 
things  of  which  the  professional  city  planner  essentially 
and  the  citizen  properly  should  take  cognizance  in  advo- 
cating municipal  betterments.  City  planning  is  as  old 
as^the  building  of  cities  and  ancient  dtles,  such  as  Baby- 
lon and  Athens  illustrate  what  was  accomplished  to  serve 
the  interests  of  their  citizens  in  that  far  day;  but  their 
age  is  not  our  age;  their  nee^s  are  not  our  needs;  and 
their  power  is  not  our  powder. 

We  in  America  today  must  solve  our  problems  and 
supply  our  needs  with  our  own  resources.  The  first  req- 
uisite is  to  start  with  a  right  understanding.  More  ex- 
perience and  less  theorv  is  required.  Experience  pro- 
duces knowledge ;  and  knowledge,  established  and  ^classi- 
fied, becomes  science.  -'*-^  '^'"'^^^  /  ^^-'    -f:''^f  "^    '^^""' 

Nearly  two  hundred  American  crties  nave'  dabbled  to 
some  extent  wath  what  is  termed  city  planning,  but  in 
scarcely  a  dozen  has  any  real  progress  been  made.    This 

414 


SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

is  due  to  two  causes  —  first,  most  cities  have  failed  to  real- 
ize the  fundamental  value  of  scientific  promotional  effort; 
second,  misapplied  energy  has  been  a  common  fault. 

Success  is  impossible  until  it  is  realized  that  no  public 
improvement  can  be  made  in  this  country  without  public 
approval,  and  the  people  will  not  give  their  consent  to  the^ 
spending  of  large  sums  of  money  for  projects  which  they 
do  not  understand.  The  need  for  promotional  effort  is 
""^pio^'n  in  the  many  things  that  must  be  undone  as  well  as 
in  the  many  things  that  must  be  done.  Illustrative  of 
this,  the  cognomen,  "City  Beautiful,"  at  the  outset,  is  a 
detrimental  factor  that  must  be  overcome.  It  requires 
long  and  arduous  effort  to  enable  citizens  to  span  the 
chasm  between  the  practical  ideals  of  a  comprehensive 
city  plan  and  the  wretched  order  of  physical  development 
so  unfortunately  prevalent  in  American  cities. 

The  training  and  experience  of  the  technical  man  is 
basic  of  course  in  preparing  comprehensive  plans  for  a 
city's  development,  but  this  is  only  of  complete  value 
when  supplemented  by  the  wisdom  and  experience  of 
business  men.  City  planning  is  as  much  a  matter  of_ 
observation  and  common  sense  as  of  technical  skill.  In 
the  United  States  city  planning  is  essentially  a  process 
of  vision  and  survey,  push  and  pull,  barter  and  sell,  edu- 
cation and  exhortation,  diplomacy  and  expediency,  courts 
and  juries.  Unless  those  who  create  the  technical  plans 
can  comprehend  the  promotive  side  of  city  planning,  as 
met  by  those  whose  business  it  is  to  put  the  technical 
studies  to  the  test  of  realization,  nothing  but  failure  can 
result.  A  plan  on  paper  is  one  thing;  its  realization  is 
another. 

415 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

Far  greater  city  planning  accomplishments  would  have 
been  made  in  this  country  had  the  technical  people  in 
most  instances  only  realized  some  of  the  practical  prob- 
lems to  be  solved  to  enable  the  promotive  side  to  con- 
vince a  critical,  apathetic,  and  skeptical  public.  How 
unfortunate  it  was  that  they  did  not  foresee  the  difficulties 
of  official  action  by  city  authorities  and  realize  the  sec- 
tional prejudice  and  personal  selfishness  that  always  loom 
up  to  throttle  their  paper  plans.  How  much  better  it 
would  have  been  if  they  only  had  appreciated  the  delays 
and  drawbacks  of  jealousies  and  bickerings  that  arise 
between  conflicting  powers;  the  opposition  of  property 
owners;  the  difficulties  of  financing  their  projects;  and 
the  hundred  and  one  things  to  be  accomplished  from  the 
education  of  the  public  down  to  the  trial  of  the  case  by 
law,  to  say  nothing  of  legal  pitfalls  after  the  steep  and 
dreary  climb  in  procedure  has  been  made  and  the  summit 
reached  in  court. 

The  present-day  world  of  city  planning  demands  a  rich 
infusion  of  common  sense.  Too  much  theory  is  advanced 
that  is  formal  and  conventional  as  opposed  to  the  practi- 
cal. The  modern-day  city  planner  is  no  longer  merely  a 
technician  but  a  composite  fellow  —  architect,  engineer, 
promoter,  journalist,  educator,  lecturer,  lawyer  and, 
above  all,  a  diplomat.  Technical  skill  is  fundamental,  of 
course,  but  equally  important_is  the  tremendous  task  of 
stirring  public  opinion  and  securing  public  consent,  after 
which  comes  the  exasperating  problem  of  complying  with 
the  manifold  complexities  of  American  municipal  rule. 
That  is  where  the  technical  man  steps  out  and  the  pro- 
moter steps  in.    Education  and  procedure  are  basic  in  city 

416 


SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

planning  in  America  and  until  these  facts  are  grasped 
and  gain  firm  hold  upon  the  people  and  the  authorities,  no 
substantial  success  will  be  had. 

In  all  its  practical  essentials,  city  planning  is  a  work 
of  promotion  —  salesmanship.  But  before  active  work 
can  be  done  in  replanning  our  present  cities,  money  must 
be  provided.  The  public  purse  is  the  only  source  from 
which  the  necessary  money  can  be  obtained,  and  the  same 
principles  of  salesmanship  which  are  required  to  open  the 
private  purse  are  necessary  to  open  the  public  purse. 

Viewing  city  planning  as  a  problem  of  salesmanship, 
it  is  a  problem  of  arousing  interest,  creating  human  de- 
sire, stirring  the  spirit  for  better  things,  and  inspiring 
human  action. 

City  planning  in  America  is  usually  retarded  by  non- 
education,  indifference,  lack  of  foresight,  and  procrastina- 
tion. These  negative  conditions  can  best  be  overcome 
and  the  ultimate  solution  of  all  the  major  problems  of 
our  cities  reached  through  the  education  of  our  children 
concerning  their  responsibility  as  the  future  owners  of 
our  municipalities  and  the  arbiters  of  their  governmental 
destiny.  Our  cities  are  coming  into  control  of  our  nation, 
and  if  we  are  to  have  a  sustained  national  patriotism,  we 
must  begin  its  development  and  cultivation  by  creating  in 
the  growing  generation  impulses  for  good  order,  cleanli- 
ness, honesty,  and  economy  in  the  physical  growth  and 
political  conduct  of  our  cities.  The  most  vital  course  to 
that  end  is  the  public  school  and  the  best  instrument  for 
its  accomplishment  is  the  education  of  the  children  in  the 
elements  of  city  planning,  on  the  principle  that  the  city 
is  truly  their  larger  home. 

417 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

What  of  the  city?  A  nation  of  body,  soul,  and  mind 
stalwarts  can  be  developed  only  through  the  scientific 
planning  of  cities,  in  which  proper  provision  for  aiding 
commerce  is  fundamental.  The  ideal  of  a  city,  however, 
must  rise  above  mere  commercial  and  industrial  suprem- 
acy, taking  the  higher  ground  of  becoming  an  attractive 
composite  home  for  its  residents,  both  of  large  and  small 
means,  as  well  as  for  the  stranger  within  its  gates. 

In  undertaking  city  planning,  two  questions  promptly 
engage  attention.  First,  how  to  proceed  to  obtain  finan- 
cial resources,  a  scientific  plan,  and  an  organization  for 
the  plan's  promotion.  Second,  having  acquired  these 
things,  how  to  obtain  results. 

Rarely  in  America  is  city  planning  work  initiated  by 
the  municipal  government.  The  movement  usually 
originates  with  a  group  of  substantial  public-spirited  citi- 
zens or  is  initiated  under  the  auspices  of  commercial  or 
civic  organizations.  The  reason  for  this  is  the  need  of 
securing  adequate  funds  for  technical  advice  and  for  the 
conduct  of  preliminary  work  so  that  public  sentiment  may 
be  aroused.  Municipal  appropriations  rarely  suffice  for 
the  first  need  and  cannot  be  had  at  all  for  promotional 
work. 

^J^oneyiXs  basic  in  cit)^  planning.  Without  it  no  tangible 
results  can  be  had.  Money  must  be  provided,  generally 
by  private  contribution,  for  the  inception,  study,  recom- 
mendation, and  prosecution  of  city  planning  endeavor. 
Money  must  be  had  for  expert  services.  Expert  services 
must  be  had  for  plans.  Plans  must  be  had  for  promo- 
tional effort.  Promotional  effort  must  be  had  before 
favorable  public  opinion  and  action  can  be  secured,  and 

418 


SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

without  public  favor,  city  officials  cannot  be  stirred  to 
action.  Every  step  in  this  logical  program  requires 
money  —  money  and  still  more  money.  As^a^eneral  rule 
municipalities  cannot  legally  provide  money  for  promo- 
tional work.  In  its  inception  and  advancement  city 
planning  is  primarily  promotional  endeavor  because  the 
people  are  the  first  consideration  in  this  country,  where 
the  ballot  box  precedes  the  builder. 

The  first  step,  therefore,  is  to  secure  an  adequate  fund 
either  by  contributions  f ro|m  citizensjpx  Jjy  appropriation   •    ^^^  ,  ; 
from  a  civic  organization.    The  fund  in  hand,  a  capable  ;. 
cit5rpranning'  expert  should  be  immediately  engaged  and       .  y 

no  attempt  at  city  planning  should  ever  be  made  without  .'      ^^ 
such  counsel. 

_A_plan_once  evolved,  the  next  step  is  to  create  public 
sentiment,  and  v.-heu  that  is  aroused,  to  secure  recognition""- 
of  the  plaifFy  the  municipal  authorities.  The  promotion 
of  plan  work  can  best  be  entrusted  to  a  properly  consti- 
tuted quasi-public  body,  preferably  known  as  the  Plan 
Commission.  Such  a  commission  should  be  absolutely 
non-political  and  non-partisan,  but  political  faiths  should 
have  representation  in  ratio  to  the  political  life  of  the 
community,  and  especially  should  the  chairman  be  of 
one  political  faith  and  the  vice-chairm.an  of  another.  The 
executive  work  of  the  commission,  under  the  direction  of 
the  officers,  should  clear  through  an  executive  committee 
typical  in  its  selection  of  the  personnel  of  the  larger  body, 
and  its  official  headquarters  should  be  under  the  manage- 
ment of  a  director  of  works,  charged  with  the  duty  of 
carrying  out  the  projects  initiated  by  the  commission. 

The  Chicago   Plan  Commission  has  no  equal  in  the 

419 


^^f^r    \h  X^'- 


^'^^   ^'  \.^  WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 


United  States  either  in  its_form  of  organization  or  its 
!-  accomplishments.  The  effectiveness  of/ an  organization 
for  the  public  good  depends  not  so  much  upon  its  mem- 
bers as  it  does  upon  the  form  of  its  organization,  the 
character  of  its  personnel  and  especially  upon  its  executive 
head  and  its  executive  committee.  Real  genius  and  wis- 
dom of  organization  was  displayed  in  the  creation  of  the 
Chicago  Plan  Commission.  It  was  deduced  that  a  plan 
for  the  whole  city  and  all  elements  in  it  should  be  studied 
and  promoted  by  a  thoroughly  representative  body  of  the 
entire  citizenry  of  the  city.  The  Chicago  Plan  Com- 
mission was  made  up  of  the  leaders  in  every  walk  of  life 
—  industrial,  commercial,  financial,  educational,  religious, 
and  political ;  the  executive  heads  of  all  the  leading  civic 
bodies;  the  heads  of  other  governmental  bodies;  citizens 
from  every  section  of  the  city;  prominent  men  of  all 
nationalities;  leaders  of  thought  and  action,  private  and 
public,  in  the  city's  life;  and  to  start  right  at  the  very 
beginning  so  that  city  authorities  and  the  citizens  would 
_work  together  in  unison  and  full  comprehension  of  the 
Plan  projects  to  be  undertaken,  the  remainder  of  the 
commission  was  made  up  of  one  alderman  from  each  of 
the  thirty-five  wards  and  the  heads  of  city  departments, 
with  the  mayor  acting  as  honorary  president. 

The  power  of  the  Plan  Commission  should  be  advisory 
and  not  executory,  and  it  should  at  all  tiiii£S..act  as  an 
intermediary  between  the  people  and  the  municipal  au- 
thorities. It  should  lend  its  first  endeavor  to  the  study  of 
fTie  plan  committed  to  it  by  the  city  and  then  recommend 
a  specific  phase  of  such  plan  for  adoption  and  execution 
by  the  municipality. 

420 


OfTHt 


SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

After  public  favor  has  been  aroused,  city  planning  has 
only  just  begun.  The  Plan  Commission,  if  success  is  to 
be  attained,  must  continue  as  an  advisor  to  the  city 
authorities.  The  maintenance  of  such  work  requires 
money.  Eventually  special  financial  provision  must  be 
made  for  the  constant  prosecution  of  city  planning  work. 
Great  works  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  always  have 
originated  and  been  fostered  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of 
publicr^pirited  citizens.  This  will  always  be  the  case, 
and  the  perpetuity  of  city  planning  effort  in  America  can 
best  be  provided  for  on  the  basis  of  other  noteworthy 
humanitarian  endeavors  —  endowment. 

With  the  millions  of  people  continually  swarming  to 
the  cities,  city  planning  becomes  basic  in  all  humanitarian 
movements.  Without  city  planning  no  endeavor  toward 
the  betterment  of  conditions  in  congested  centers  can  or 
will  reach  the  high  notch  of  success  which  may  be  achieved 
with  the  assistance  of  a  properly  organized,  well-defined 
plan  for  the  growth  of  a  city  and  its  citizens.  Credit  ob- 
tains to  the  public-spirited  men  who  financially  back  a 
plan  at  its  inception,  to  the  technical  people  who  create 
the  plan,  and  to  the  promoters  who  develop  it.  There  is 
a  vacant  niche  in  the  city  planning  Hall  of  Fame  for  the 
endower  who  assures  the  plan's  ultimate  realization. 

Another  fundamental  of  far-reaching  importance  to 
4he-€ity  planning  promoter  is  the  need  for  inspiring  and 
Jiarnessing  all  the  elements  to  be  found  in  a  city.  The 
nature,  extent,  and  variety  of  these  elements  vary  with, 
the  size  and  geographic  location  of  the  city  and  the  char- 
acter of  its  inhabitants,  but  every  city  has  its  problems, 
due  to  whatever  elements  it  may  harbor.     All  must  be 

421 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

blended  into  a  harmonious  whole  —  sectionalism;  private 
and  corporate  greed ;  religion ;  tradition ;  class  distinction ; 
political  factions;  labor  unions;  foreign  population;  re- 
formers; welfarers;  civic,  commercial,  and  social  organi- 
zations; woman  suffrage;  native  prejudices;  indifference; 
and  technical  bias  —  all  must  be  assimilated  and  neu- 
tralized in  the  successful  city  planning  program. 

Failures  in  public  work  are  frequently  recorded  be- 
cause acquaintanceship  with  people  and  facts  is  under- 
rated or  altogether  misconceived.  Looking  on  all  sides 
of  a  question;  harmonizing  all  elements,  factions,  sec- 
tions, and  people ;  swinging  a  whole  city  into  line ;  learn- 
ing what  is  wrong  and  righting  it ;  all  and  much  more  are 
required  by  the  city  planner  if  he  is  to  level  all  the  obstruc- 
tions in  his  pathway.  The  Plan  Commission,  as  a  har- 
mony salesman,  must  know  no  creeds,  no  doctrines,  no 
isms,  no  ologies,  no  factions,  no  caste,  no  prejudices,  and 
no  faiths. 

In  forwarding  a  city  plan  along  the  pathway  to 
accomplishment  the  greatest  source  of  motive  power  is 
publicity.  Naturally  the  sort  of  propaganda  necessary 
depends  somewhat  upon  the  extent  of  the  plan  and  the 
size  of  the  city.  If  the  plan  is  limited  or  fragmentary, 
educational  propaganda  may  be  fitted  to  suit.  Continu- 
ous, far-reaching,  and  varied  propaganda  is  essential, 
however,  when  a  comprehensive  plan  is  proposed  for  a 
whole  city,  where  each  feature  is  a  component  part  of 
the  whole,  and  where  the  plan  will  require  years  for  its 
realization,  while  advancing  a  step  at  a  time. 

The  whole  plan  must  be  made  known  publicly  from 
the  very  start,  and  it  must  be  constantly  and  insistently 

422 


SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

carried  to  all  the  people  in  every  section  of  the  city.  The 
newspapers  always  are  the  most  valuable  medium  for  this. 
Wise  is  the  city  planner  who,  instead  of  proceeding  out  of 
his  own  limited  experience,  goes  first  of  all  to  the  news- 
paper men  to  seek  their  advice  and  invite  their  assistance. 
No  other  class  of  mem  is  able  to  l^ee  faulty  procedure  more 
quickly  and  their  vast  experience  in  dealing  with  current 
events  makes  them  experts,  with  quick  insight  into  the 
weakness,  superficiality  or  wrong  methods  of  any  propo- 
sition. 

First  of  all,  then,  the  plan  must  be  right.  Next  the 
men  backing  the  plan  must_be  men  of  stability^.A\ isdonj, 
and  unselfishnesSj_of  known  reputation,  who  stand  for 
"something  worth  while  and  have  no  axes  to  grind.  Then, 
in  order  to  secure  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  press, 
the  same  methods  must  be  employed  that  would  secure 
the  favor  of  any  other  citizen. 

The  bedrock  principle  for  city  planning  promoters  to 
cling  to  is  the  establishment  of  their  plan  and  their 
commission  with  the  people.  To  accomplish  this  there 
are  several  methods  —  newspaper  publicity,  the  public 
schools,  and  the  churches,  printed  matter,  lecture  work 
upon  the  platform,  individual  propaganda,  meetings, 
motion  pictures,  and,  above  all,  accomplishment  of  some 
beneficial  feature  of  the  plan  that  will  stand  as  an  indica- 
tion of  the  advantage  to  be  conferred  by  the  other  fea- 
tures of  the  general  scheme. 

The  conception,  the  creation,  and  the  promotion  of  a 
city  plan  are  basic.  Behind  the  conception  of  the  plan  the 
first  step  is  inspiration.  Back  of  its  resultant  creation  is 
emblazoned  the  way  to  stir  the  hearts  of  men  and  to  in- 

423 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

spire  in  their  minds  that  desire  for  better  city  conditions 
which  are  the  fruits  of  well-executed  city  planning.  Em- 
bodied in  promotion  is  publicity  —  the  necessity  of  awak- 
ening people  to  the  need  of  city  planning,  and  the  method 
of  moving  them  to  action. 

In  this  new  field  of  professional  effort  the  great  ma- 
jority of  failures  recorded  have  been  due  to  misapplied 
energy.  The  fault  of  mistaken  procedure  does  not  lie 
in  making  mistakes,  but  in  repeating  them  and  in  refusing 
to  learn  by  the  experience  of  others.  Nearly  everybody's 
failures  are  due  to  the  wrong  way  of  proceeding.  Some 
fail  through  sheer  carelessness,  but  most  failures  are  due 
to  the  wrong  way  of  going  at  a  thing.  This,  of  course,  is 
the  result  of  ignorance,  but  only  in  a  small  part  can  it  be 
charged  to  inexperience.  If  a  man  cannot  use  his  own 
knowledge,  he  can  use  the  experience  which  someone 
else  has  had. 

Our  American  cities  are  interdependent  in  that  each 
needs  every  bit  of  practical  experience  that  may  be  ob- 
tained from  any  source.  Misapplied  energy  not  only 
means  misplaced  energy  but  it  also  means  placing  the 
wrong  kind  of  energy. 

This  negative  has  a  dual  significance.  The  wrong  use 
of  energy  and  using  good  energy  in  the  wrong  way  are 
dire  faults  in  misdirected  city  planning  efforts  and  two- 
thirds  of  all  the  failures  that  have  been  made  have  been 
due  to  these  two  causes. 

Another  frequent  cause  of  failure  has  been  the  im- 
proper but  all-too-prevalent  method  of  dealing  with  public 
authorities.  Many  aspiring  city  planners  have  been  un- 
able to  comprehend  the  fact  that  a  public  official  is  human, 

424 


SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

and  can  be  reached  with  the  same  tactics  that  will  reach 
any  other  individual.  Especially  unfortunate  is  the  far- 
too-common  practice  of  regarding  and  addressing  city 
officials  as  public  servants.  We  must  learn  to  be  fair 
and  accurate  in  our  analysis  of  local  conditions,  and 
sensible  enough  to  admit  that  the  average  of  results  for 
progressive,  honest,  and  efficient  government  and  the 
betterment  of  living  conditions  in  cities  is  good.  After 
all  is  said  and  done,  it  is  quite  likely  that  many  public 
officials  need  encouragement  more  than  condemnation. 
One  of  the  best  things  we  can  learn  is  to  respect  and  trust 
public  men  and  private  citizens  who  do  meritorious  things 
for  their  fellows.  Much  civic  advance  has  failed  because 
its  advocates  have  neglected  to  encourage  the  sympathy 
and  gain  the  close  acquaintance  of  public  authorities. 
The  city  planner  and  the  public  official  must  go  hand  in 
hand  to  get  results. 

The  need  for  haste  in  city  planning  is  shown  by  the 
uneconomic  manner  in  which  public  improvements  must 
be  made  in  this  country.  Vast  loss  is  caused  by  the  time 
and  expense  needed  to  educate  the  public,  and  the  lapse  of 
time  from  the  moment  the  city  actually  commences  im- 
provement proceedings  until  the  project  is  finished,  dur- 
ing which  period  the  legal  barriers  that  rest  over  the 
property  to  be  taken  entail  a  shrinkage  in  property  values 
and  rentals.  An  additional  hardship  is  put  upon  the 
private  property  involved  by  the  cumbersome  legal  proce- 
dure usi'ially  necessary  before  a  city  can  acquire  property 
needed  for  ^n  improvement.  Such  conditions  deprive  the 
people  of  the  benefit  of  the  betterment  for  years  and  cause 
a  loss  in  the  aggregate  that,  if  it  could  be  eliminated  by 

425 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

better  methods,  often  would  be  almost  sufficient  to  pay 
for  the  improvement. 

The  fault  for  this  ridiculous,  absurd,  and  unscientific 
program  is  in  part  due  to  the  law.  Other  elements  are 
the  selfishness  of  property  owners,  political  intrigue,  dilly- 
dallying of  careless  municipal  employes  and  authorities, 
foolish  and  unnecessary  bickering  between  public  bodies, 
and  the  delaying  tactics  of  professional  agitators.  Laws 
can  be  amended  and  simplified  and  cities  can  be  granted 
the  rights  and  powers  which  eventually  they  must  have 
if  city  planning  is  to  be  accomplished  on  a  large  scale  in 
America.  The  people  will  be  stimulated  to  action  and 
the  agitator  put  to  rout  by  a  better  knowledge  of  the 
benefits  of  city  planning.  The  most  difficult  thing  to 
remedy  is  the  selfishness  of  property  owners  who  see  only 
an  opportunity  to  enrich  themselves  in  every  proposed 
public  improvement.  This  type  of  person  should  be  com- 
pelled to  realize  that  the  ownership  of  property  is  a 
privilege  in  which  Is  shared  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
his  neighbors. 

Another  serious  element  of  delay  is  the  frequency  of 
change  in  political  offices.  Added  to  this  there  is  the  con- 
dition commonly  extant  of  more  than  one  body  having 
jurisdiction  over  an  improvement.  It  is  because  of  all 
these  things  that  it  is  clearly  the  mission  of  every  citizen, 
who  has  his  city's  welfare  at  heart,  to  study  the  needs 
of  his  city,  to  familiarize  himself  with  its  plan,  if  it  has 
one,  and  to  get  behind  that  plan  and  help  to  push  the 
work  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

It  is  befitting  that  Chicago  should  have  a  prominent 
part  in  a  volume  on  American  city  planning  since  the  city 

426 


SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

has  undertaken,  in  a  large  way,  the  realization  of  a  city- 
plan  more  comprehensive  than  has  been  suggested  for 
any  other  American  city.  Certain  underlying  truths  of 
value  to  all  city  planning  proponents  were  voiced  by  The 
Commercial  Club  leaders  when  the  Plan  of  Chicago  was 
originated  by  Daniel  Hudson  Burnham  under  the  club's 
direction. 

One  pioneer  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
very  foundation  of  the  whole  idea  of  city  planning  is  to 
develop  a  city's  prosperity  by  increasing  its  commerce,  its 
beauty,  and  its  morals;  that  a  city  plan  is  a  business 
proposition  and  should  be  carried  out  under  the  direction 
and  control  of  business,  men.  Any  plan  for  commercial 
and  physical  development  should  be  so  logical,  as  a  busi- 
ness proposition,  and  so  attractive  in  appearance,  as  to 
appeal  both  to  the  business  judgment  and  the  civic  pride 
of  the  community.  Next  to  the  plan  itself,  of  course, 
the  most  important  thing  is  to  "  put  it  across."  The  future 
of  the  American  city  is  a  trust  in  the  hands  of  the  public- 
spirited  captains  of  industry  and  to  these  the  people  must 
look  for  the  fulfilment  of  their  highest  welfare. 

Commercially  city  planning  has  to  do  with  the  regular 
arrangement  of  streets  within  a  city  and  to  control  its 
physical  development  through  a  proper  zoning  system. 
Its  aim  is  to  save  time  and  effort  in  traffic  between  the 
various  sections.  Socially  city  planning  has  to  do  with 
adequate  provision  for  the  public  health.  This  is  gained 
through  the  best  location  of  parks  and  playgrounds  and 
the  opening  to  light  and  air  of  crowded  housing  districts. 
A  proper  city  plan  is  the  foundation  for  all  social,  com- 
mercial, and  humanitarian  advance,  and  solves  the  vital 

427 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

problems  of  congestion,  traffic,  and  public  health.  In  this 
municipal  economy  is  of  prime  importance,  because  lack 
of  good  order  and  extravagance  go  hand  in  hand. 

The  city  plan  should  be  a  framework  —  not  a  hard  and 
fast  plan  but  one  to  be  developed  in  whole  or  in  part 
as  the  best  judgment  of  the  community  may  determine. 
It  should  not  be  merely  a  scheme  for  spending  untold 
millions  but,  on  the  contrary,  by  spending  for  improve- 
ments in  accordance  with  a  scientific  plan  only  the  money 
which  must  be  spent  anyway,  in  the  course  of  years  it 
should  pay  for  itself.  It  should  not  be  an  artist's  dream 
nor  the  project  of  theoretical  city  beautifiers  who  have 
lost  sight  of  everyday  affairs  and  forgotten  the  needs  of 
the  people.  The  artistic  should  be  blended  with  the 
hygienic,  the  industrial,  and  the  commercial,  along  lines 
which  promise  the  best  results  with  the  least  expenditure 
of  time,  effort,  and  money.  The  sooner  comprehensive 
planning  and  building  are  undertaken  the  more  quickly 
will  results  be  accomplished  and  the  less  they  will  cost. 
For  the  largest  measure  of  success,  the  city  plan  should 
represent  the  finest  efforts  of  the  best  city  planning  talent 
obtainable,  supplemented  by  the  concentrated  judgment 
of  practical  business  men. 

The  Plan  Commission  should  represent  the  people  of 
its  city  in  the  truest  and  best  sense.  Public  confidence 
should  be  secured  section  by  section,  ward  by  ward,  and 
street  by  street.  The  people  should  be  shown  what  their 
city  plan  means  to  them  so  that  an  irresistible  public 
opinion  may  be  created  behind  it.  The  commission 
should  not  be  bound  in  its  vision  of  what  it  may  ac- 
complish by  anything  which  has  been  achieved  in  the  past, 

428 


SUMMING  IT  ALL  UP 

but  its  plans  should  offer  a  closely  reasoned,  carefully 
studied,  well-balanced  solution  which  provides  generously 
alike  for  all  the  community, 

A  city  plan  means  a  city  practical.  Dirt,  grime,  and 
sordid  conditions  are  not  a  part  of  industrial  and  com- 
mercial success.  They  are,  rather,  evidences  of  failure 
to  grasp  the  fundamental  truth  that  men  who  are  happy, 
whose  lives  are  cast  in  pleasant  places,  who  are  clean  of 
body  and  clean  of  mind,  are  the  men  who  best  do  things. 
The  commercial  and  industrial  supremacy  of  any  city 
must  rest  upon  the  character,  capacity,  and  physique  of 
its  industrial  workers.  In  any  well-regulated  order  of 
affairs  part  of  the  wealth  created  by  men  who  toil  through 
life  means  the  bringing  of  joy  and  the  securing  of  more 
comfort  and  better  opportunities  to  those  who  produce 
such  wealth. 

It  is  the  earnest  hope  of  the  author  that  those  engaged 
in  city  planning  endeavor  may  find  assistance  in  this  city 
planning  procedure  program,  which  has  been  created  out 
of  actual  experience,  and  that  the  efforts  of  Chicago  on 
its  great  Plan,  as  outlined  in  detail  in  the  foregoing 
chapters,  may  contain  much  of  helpfulness  in  solving 
their  local  problems.  In  this  summary,  only  general 
truths  of  universal  application  have  been  included,  as  the 
city  planning  promoter  would  naturally  prefer  to  get 
specific  points  regarding  Chicago's  experiences  from  the 
context  of  the  book  itself.  It  is  further  hoped  that  city 
planning  advocates  throughout  America  will  find  inspira- 
tion and  aid  in  the  fact  that  in  Chicago  the  die  has  been 
cast. 

The  Chicago  Plan  Commission  is  at  work  and  many  of 

429 


WHAT  OF  THE  CITY? 

its  great  Plan  projects  have  been  started.  Neither  war, 
nor  pestilence,  nor  panic,  nor  time  will  efface  what  is 
started  or  prevent  the  ultimate  fulfilment  of  what  is  pro- 
posed. City  administrations  will  change;  men  of  power 
will  come  and  go;  old  Plan  warhorses  will  fall  by  the 
wayside  and  new  ones  will  take  their  places;  delays  will 
occur  and  setbacks  will  overtake  the  Plan;  the  people 
will  become  impatient  and  will  grow  discouraged;  dis- 
agreements will  take  place  and  malcontents  will  be  assimi- 
lated ;  faults  will  be  found  and  will  be  remedied ;  the  war 
and  the  reconstruction  period  will  undoubtedly  cause 
hardships  and  delays;  but  the  world  will  lift  its  head  from 
the  agonizing  blood  of  its  millions  with  new  hope  and 
courage  in  that  day  when  cooperation  and  not  strife  will 
be  the  watchword  of  the  people;  and  through  all  these 
the  Plan  of  Chicago  will  continue  to  thread  its  way  to  its 
perfect  fulfilment. 

The  author  sincerely  wishes  the  same  measure  of  suc- 
cess to  every  city  planning  movement  that  may  be  started 
in  any  American  city. 


430 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Academy  of   Sciences,  Chicago, 

206,  301 
Adamson  Law,  41 
Adoption  of  city  plan,  68 
Alliance  Frangaise  lectures,  Chi- 
cago, 310 
Amateur  Musical  Club,  Chicago, 

230 
America   has    no   experience,  28 
American  bluffing,  60 
American    city    planning    status, 

18 
American     Institute     of     Archi- 
tects,  Plan   of   Chicago,  322 
Americanization,   159 
America's   greatest   issue,   49 
Appropriations     for    city    plan- 
ning, 65 
Analyzing   local    conditions,    125 
Area  of  Chicago  and  other  cit- 
ies,  186 
Armour,  J.  Ogden,  183 
Armour    Institute    of    Technol- 
ogy, Chicago,  301 
Art, 

In  Chicago,  243 

In  public  schools,  Chicago,  242 

Institute,    Chicago,    245 

Municipal,  245 
Arts  and  sciences,  Chicago,  220 
Assimilating   all   elements,   74 
Athens,  29 
Authors, 

Ade,   George,  257 

Alienist,  274 

Anatomists,  274 

Archaeology,  267 

Art  and  art  subjects,  271 

Bacteriology,  274 

Biology,  266 

Botany,  265 

Business  authors,  268 


Chemistry,  274 
Chicago,  255 
Children's  stories,  257 
Dentistry  and  dental  surgery, 

274 
Dermatology,  274 
Diagnostics,  274 
Drama,   263 
Economists,  262 
Education,  272 
English  and  English  criticism, 

264 
Ethics,   265 
Ethnology,  268 
Fields     of     writing,     Chicago, 

256 
Geology,  265 
Historians,  256,  272 
Historical    romancers,   257 
Hymns    and    religious    songs, 
-  275 
Law,   261 

Literary  history,  257 
Mathematics,  269 
McCutcheon,  John  T.,  257 
Medicine,  2^2, 
Miscellaneous   writers,   270 
Music,  262 

Newspaper   authorities,    257 
Ornithology,  266 
Pathology,  274 
Philology,   267 
Philosophy,  272 
Physiology,  274 
Psychology,  272 
Romance,  264 
Social  science,  261 
Textbooks,  272 
Theology    and    religious,    2T2,, 

275 
Toxicology,  274 
Vers  libre,  258 


433 


INDEX 


Authors  —  couti)iucd 
Women  authors,  256 
Zoology,   266        ' 

Benefits  not  understood,   138 
Bennett,   Edward  H., 

Architect,     Grecian     peristyle, 

Grant   Park,   Chicago,  209 
Consulting    architect,    Chicago 
Plan  Commission,  26 
Bennett,     Frank     I.,     appointed 
vice-chairman,  Chicago  Plan 
Commission,  233 
"  Boul.   Mich.,"   Chicago,  208 
Boulevard    and    business    thor- 
oughfare,  30 
Boulevards,  Chicago,  202,  209 
Branches  of  city  planning,  22 
Building   statistics,   Chicago,   155 
Burnham,   Daniel   Hudson, 
Burnham    versus    Haussmann, 

318 
Burnham's  associates,  315 
City  planning  admonition,  319 
Comment   on    Chicago's    won- 
derful men,   151 
Contributes  working  quarters, 

328 
Death  of  Mr.  Buriiham,  350 
Director    of    Works,    World's 
Columbian    Exposition,    and 
author  of   Plan  of  Chicago, 

215 
Dreaming     of     World's     Fair 

completion,   314 
Invited  to  make  plan,  321 
Memorial    to    Daniel    Hudson 

Burnham,  351 
More   than   a  great   architect, 

25 
Suggests  Lake  Front  improve- 
ment, 390 
Business    and    technical    confer- 
ences, 26 
Business  of  a  newspaper,  90 
Busse,  Mayor  Fred  A., 
Address   to   City   Council   ap- 
pointing Chicago  Plan  Com- 
mission,  354 
Admonition  to  people  on  Plan 
of  Chicago,  355 


Names  Charles  H.  Wacker 
permanent  chairman,  Chi- 
cago Plan  Commission,  356 
Butler,   Edward   B., 

Artist  and  contributor  to  Art 
Institute,  247 

Burnham  Plan  address,  joint 
dinner  Merchants'  and  Com- 
mercial   clubs,    1905,    321 

Chairman  .  Commercial  Club 
Plan  Committee,  succeed- 
ing Charles  H.  Wacker, 
1909,  332 

Carr,    Clyde    M.,    suggests    ap- 
pointment  of   Chicago   Plan 
Commission,  330 
Changes   in   political   offices,    134 
Character  of  municipal  govern- 
ment,  121 
Chicago. 
Association  of  Commerce,  176, 

330,  353 
Avenue,  Chicago,  389 
Band  Association,  229 
Best  organized  city,  352 
Complex  elements,  75 
Convention    city    of    America, 

156 
Daily  Nczvs  lectures,  309 
Daily      newspapers      greatest 

civic  asset,  91 
Fire,  215 

Foreign  citizenry,  76 
Geographic     Society     lectures, 

310 
Historical   Society,  287 
In  the  Making,  212 
Law  schools,  303 
Marvelous  growth  of,  162,  213 
Medical    Society    lectures,   310 
Symphony  Orchestra,  233 
Spirit,  the,  171,  215 
Chicago   Plan   Commission, 
Accomplishments,  367 
City  appropriations,  360 
Commercial     Club    appropria- 
tions, 359 
Executive  committee,  357 
Financial  backing,  359  , 
Formation  of  commission,  353 


434 


INDEX 


Chicago  —  continued 

Headquarters,  358 

Initial  work,  402 

Meetings,  357 

Organization  experience,  64 

Personnel,  63,  353 

Proceedings,   410 

Publications,  92 

Work  of   commission,  63,   352 

Working    through    three    city 
administrations,  380 
Chicago  Plan  description, 

A  proper  city  plan,  343 

Bathing  beaches,   345 

Beginning  of,   316 

Business  encroachment  on 
residential   sections.  337 

Citizens  take  duties  too  light- 
ly, 346 

Commercial  value  of  Chicago 
Plan,  343 

Contrast    in    property    values, 

337 
Diagonal    thoroughfares,    lack 

of,  3.^7, 
Early  Chicago   difficulties,  336 
Economic     loss     in     property 

transformation,    338 
European   development  of  di- 
agonal  thoroughfares,   339 
European       development       of 

poor  areas,  338 
Forest  preserves,  347 
Good  roads  system,  345 
Housing     railways     in     three 

units,  348 
Humanitarian  benefits,  344 
Improvement         expenditures, 
Chicago,        in        twenty-five 
years,  347 
Intensity  of  city  life,  344 
Interior      parks       and      play- 
grounds, 347 
Lake       Front       improvement, 

345       . 

Lessons  in  municipal  economy, 
346 

McAdoo,  Wm.  G.,  on  Chica- 
go's railroad  problem,  341 

Municipal  economy  of  prime 
importance,   346 


Object  —  a  centralized  city, 
342 

Original  street  layout,  336 

Plan  accomplishments,  350 

Pre-war  status,  14 

Problems  of  rapid  growth, 
336 

Promotes  health  and  happi- 
ness,  344 

Quadrangle,  foundation  of 
street  system,  348 

Question    of    proper    housing, 

345  ^    ^     . 

Railroad  occupancy  of  busi- 
ness center,  339 

Reclaiming    submerged    lands, 

Recreational  facilities,  344 
Removal     of      South      Water 

Street  market,  349 
Solves   vital  problems,  343 
Street   improvements,  two  hun- 
dred miles  of,  345 
Success,  25 
Termed  a  haphazard  group  of 

overgrown   villages,  336 
Topography,   335 
Traffic,     easy     movement     of, 

345 
Transportation   facilities,  345 
Understanding        with        city 

authorities,  349 
Value     of     prpper     planning, 
347 
•    Zoning  system  needed,  338 
Chicago's  greatest  issue  —  a  pub- 
lication, 95 
Chicago's    world-wide    influence 

in  city  planning,  109 
Churches,   New   York  and   Chi- 
cago,   297 
Churches  of  Chicago,  220 
Cities  control  the  nation,  35,  38 
Cities,    non-development    of    be- 
tween  1898  and  I 918,  48 
Citizen's  rights  in  cities,  48 
Citizens   fostering  public   works, 

70 
Citizens'  committee,  west  side 
terminal,   Chicago,  384 


435 


INDEX 


"  City    Beautiful "    a    misnomer, 

^5,  93. 
City  building — "man  building," 

•City     Club,     educational     force, 

Chicago,  310 
City  planner,  what  he  is,  25,  34 
City    planning    distinctive    from 

city  government,  68 
City  planning  old  science,  36 
Civic  conscience,  awakening  of, 

176 
Civic    Music    Association,    Chi- 
cago, 227,  229 
Climate  of  Chicago,  173 
Coalition  of  nations,  12 
Colleges  and  schools,  New  York 

and  Chicago,  297 
Commerce  basic  in  nation's  suc- 
cess, 40 
Commercial  art,  192 
Commercial    Club    of    Chicago, 
The, 
Consulted  by  -leaders  of  Bos- 
ton,     Cincinnati,      and      St. 
Louis,  330 
Dinner  to  Chicago  Plan  Com- 
mission, 362 
Early     plan      suggestions     of 

members,  316 
First     meeting     general     plan 

committee,  329 
List  of  members  contributing 
to    Plan    of    Chicago    work, 
360 
Personnel  of  original  general 
plan  committee  of  Commer- 
cial Club,  332 
Plan     committee     of     united 

clubs,  324 
Plan  of  Chicago  report,  91 
Status  of  early  leaders  in  Chi- 
cago   Plan   movement,  333 
Subscriptions  to  Plan  work,  9, 

319,   329,   359 
Union   with  Merchants'  Club, 

324 
Work,   objects  and  personnel, 
177 
Commercial  education,  306 


Conferences  on  Plan  of  Chicago, 

324 
Constantinople,  30 
Constructive  art  center,  Chicago, 

245 
Consulting  Board,  Plan  of  Chi- 
cago, appointment  of,  322 
Contributors    to    Art    Institute, 

Chicago,  248 
Cost  borne  by  private  corpora- 
tions, 409 
Council    for    Library    and    Mu- 
seum    Extension,     Chicago, 
219 
Cradle  of  the  greatest  plan,  150 
Credit    for    accomplishment,   22 
Crerar   Library,   Chicago,  283 
Credit  to  private  citizens,  128 
Criticisms   of   Chicago,   185 
Cultivating    newspaper    support, 

88  _  . 

Cultivating  public  officials,  123 
Cultural     advantages,     Chicago, 

217 
Culture  in  Chicago,  216 

Daily  News  Almanac,  Chicago, 

260 
Dangers  at  the  outset,  93 
Dayton  flood,   1913,  50 
Death   rate,  Chicago,   174 
Debt  cities  owe  their  people,  40 
Definition  of  city  planning,  20 
Definition    of    citv    planning    by 

Charles  H.  Wacker,  32 
Delano,  Frederic  A.,  early  plan 

of  Chicago  work,  320 
Designing  politicians,  132 
Destiny  of   Chicago,  354 
Difficulties  to  be  overcome,  23 
Domestic      Science      and      Arts 

School,  Chicago,  303 
Douglas  Park,  Chicago,  202 
Dupee,    Eugene   H.,    142 
Duty  of  citizens,  36,  122 

Early  Chicago  planners,  26 
Eastland  disaster,  56 
Edison,    Thomas   A.,    on   music, 
222 


43^ 


INDEX 


Education   and  procedure  basic, 

31 
Education  of  the  young,  34 
Educational      opportunities       in 

Chicago,  219 
Educational  propaganda,  362 
Effectiveness    of    an    organiza- 
tion, 352 
Electing  fit  men  to  public  office, 

.131,  141  . 
Encircling  highways,  408 
Encouraging  public  officials,   129 
Endowment   of    city   plan    com- 
missions, 72 
Energy  of   Chicago,   182 
Epochs     in     Chicago's     growth, 

171 
Establishing   the    Plan    of    Chi- 
cago, 91 
Estimate   of    Chicago    Plan    im- 
provements, 403 
European   support  of  city  plan- 
ners,  lOI 
European  tourist  travel,  39 
Experts   who  prepared   Plan   of 

Chicago  report,  328 
Extent  of  work  on  the  Chicago 
Plan,  362 

Factors  controlling  city  growth, 

168 
Factory  production,  Chicago,  195 
Fads  in  city  planning,  19 
Faherty,  Michael  J.,  137 
Failures    by    wrong    procedure, 

Farwell,  John  V.,  reporting  on 
completed  Plan  of  Chicago 
at  Commercial  Club  dinner, 
February,  1908,  325 

Field  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory, Chicago,  200,  209,  251 

Fifty  million  dollars  for  noth- 
ing,  108 

Financial  means,  special,  67 

First  formal  report,  Plan  of 
Chicago,  323 

Fledgelings  in  city  planning,  20 

Foot-and-mouth  disease  epi- 
demic, 52 


Foresight,  lack  of,  50 

Forest   preserves,    Chicago,   212, 

398,  402 
Fourth      Presbyterian      Church, 

Chicago,  208 
French  government,  318 
Future   city    not    in    our   hands, 

36 

Garfield  Park,  Chicago,  203 
Get  together  meetings,  129 
"  Gold  Coast,"  Chicago,  207 
Golf  courses,  Chicago,  211 
Government       management       of 

railroads,  42 
Graft  in  municipalities,  122 
Grand  opera  in  Chicago,  235 
Grant  Park,  Chicago,  208 
Greatest  civic   issue,  9 
(jroping  in  the  dark,  22 
Gunn   Orchestra,  231 

Haphazard   development,    189 
Haussmann,  Baron  Georges  Eu- 
gene, 317 
Haussmann  Plan  of  Paris,  317 
Health  of   urban  population,  38 
Hebrew  Institute,  Chicago,  302 
Hill,   James   J.,   prophecy,    167 
History  of  Chicago  Plan  move- 
ment, 3157335 
Hospitals,    Chicago,    304 
Humboldt   Park,   Chicago,  204 
Hutchinson,   Charles    L.,   247 

Ignorance  of  promotional  need, 
19 

Imperial  power  not  ours,  29 

Imports,   dutiable,   Chicago,    155. 

Inspiration  and  influences,  Chi- 
cago,  276 

Interdependence  of  cities,  36 

Iroquois  Theater  fire,  Chicago, 
55 

Issues  in  America,  29 

Jackson    Park,    Chicago,    199 


Kingsway    and    Aldwych,    Lon- 
don,   57 


437 


INDEX 


Lake  Front  and  Illinois  Central 
improvements,  Chicago,  390- 
396 

Lake  Shore  Drive,  Chicago,  207 

Larger  home  —  the  city,  31 

La  Salle  Extension  University, 
Chicago,  300 

Law  Institute,  Chicago,  303 

League  of  nations,  160 

Learning  by  our  own  experience, 
103 

Lecture  bureau,  Chicago  Plan 
Commission,  310 

Lectures,  Chicago  Plan,  105 

Legal  procedure,  132 

Legal  restrictions  in  city  appro- 
priations, 71 

Libraries,    Old    World,    278 

Library  circulation,  278 

Library    facilities,    Chicago,   2S7 

Library   functions,  278 

Lincoln  Park,  Chicago,  205 

Lincoln  Park  extension,  Chi- 
cago, 396 

Local  improvement  procedure  in 
Chicago,  143 

London  fire,   1666,  56 

London's  mistake,  25 

Longest  street  in  the  world,  188 

Looking  on  all  sides  of  a  prob- 
lem, 81 

Loop   district,   Chicago,   190 

Lowden,  Governor  Frank  O., 
Illinois,    161 

Loyola  University,  Chicago,  302 

MacVeagh,   Franklin, 
First  Plan  of  Chicago  sugges- 
tion, 320 
Letter    to    Mr.    Burnharn    ap- 
proving   Plan    for    Chicago, 
321 
Managing       director,       Chicago 
Plan    Commission,    selection 
of,   3 
Meaning  of  city  planning,  31 
Medical  center,  Chicago,  273 
^i^edical  schools,  Chicago,  304 
Meeting    of     Plan     Commission 
with  public  officials,  Chicago, 
1912,  366 


Merchants'    Club,    Chicago,    316, 

319 
Michigan   Avenue   improvement, 

Chicago,   372,  380 
Midway  Plaisance,  World's  Fair, 

Chicago,  201 
Misunderstood  city  planning,  28 
Military  accomplishment,  8 
Military  unpreparedness,  57 
Misapplied   energy,    112 
Mistakes  in  city  planning  origin, 

66 
Alodel  city,  2)1 
Motion  pictures,   loS 
Alunicipal, 

Authorities,    120 

Pier,    Chicago,    397 

Pre-war   conditions,   12 

Problems,   9 
Music, 

Department  of   Newberry   Li- 
brary, Chicago,  225 

In  Chicago,  221 

In  public  schools,  Chicago,  225 

Publishers,  Chicago,  224 

Schools,  Chicago,  225 
Musical, 

Advantages,  Chicago,  224 

Clubs    and    societies,   Chicago, 
226 

Festival,  Chicago,  227 

Naming  a   city  planning  board, 

62 
Negative  characteristics,  34 
New  York's  mistake,  25 
New  profession  —  city  planning, 

21 
Newberry  Library,  Chicago,  279 
Newspaper     support,     Chicago's 

powerful,  131 
Newspapers       and      periodicals, 

Chicago,  254 
Northwestern  LTniversity,  Evan- 

ston  and  Chicago,  298 
Norton,  Charles  D., 
Early  Plan  of  Chicago  work, 

320 
Eulogy     of     Daniel     Hudson 

Burnham,  328 


438 


INDEX 


Norton,  Charles  D. —  continued 
Recites    history   Chicago    Plan 

movement     at      Commercial 

Club  dinner,  February,  1908, 

326 
Remarks  at  Commercial  Club 

Plan      Commission      dinner, 

January,   1910,  363 
Removal    to    Washington,    D. 

C,  329 

Obstructionists,  120 

Ogden    Avenue    extension,    Qii- 

cago,  403 
Old  residents  of  Chicago,  163 
Ordinary     home      surroundings. 

Organization,    right   Rind,   27 
Organizations   of    Chicago.    175 
Organizing  city  planning,  61 
Outer      boulevard      connection, 
Chicago,  407 

Panama  Canal  slides,  54 
Paper  plans  versus  realities,  24 
Paris  examples,  30 
Park  and  boulevard  circuit,  Chi- 
cago, 198 
Percentage  of  urban  population, 

Pericles,  29 

Perpetuity   of   city  planning  ef- 
fort,  71 

Philharmonic   Orchestra,   Chica- 
go,  232 

Piano    manufacturing,    Chicago, 
223 

Pipe-organ  manufacturing,   Chi- 
cago, 224 

Plan     Commission     a    harmony 
salesman,  82 

Plan  of  Chicago,  the,  313 

Plan       textbook       in       Chicago 
schools,  97 

Population, 
Center    of,    in    United    States, 

170 
Enormous  city  increase.  47 
Increase  —  municipal,  45 
Increase  —  United  States,  45 


Post-office, 

Receipts,  Chicago,  213 

West-side    site,    Chicago,   405 
Power  to  move  people,  83 
Powers  —  past    and    present,    22 
Practical  problems   encountered, 

24 
Preachers,  famous    Chicago,  312 
Prejudice  and  traditions  of  ail- 
American  cities,  77 
Preparedness, 

Health,  45 

Municipal,  39 
Preventive  losses,   50 
Profiting   by   the   experience  of 

others,    116 
Progress,  lack  of,  18 
Promotion  is  required,  16,  84 
Propaganda    necessary,   85 
Property    owners    organizations, 

141 
Public, 

Approval,    75 

Approval  of  Plan  of  Chicago, 

355 
Health,  6,   8 
Libraries,  Chicago,  277 
Library,  the,  Chicago,  277 
Library,  the,  New    York,  278, 

-79 

Opinion  —  favorable,  67  ' 

School   function,  35 

School  system,  Chicago,  220 
Publicity, 

Chicago  Plan  Commission,  85 

Chicago's  greatest  issue,  95 

General,  83 

Lectures,   105 

Motion  pictures,  108 

W acker's  Manual  of  the  Plan 
of  Chicago,  96 
Puritan  mugginess,   197 

Railroad  mileage, 

Chicago,   170 

United  States,   170 
Railroad    restrictive    legislation, 

Railway  terminal   improvements, 
west  side,  Chicago,  381-389 
Ravinia  Park,  Chicago,  232 


439 


INDEX 


Rawson,  F.  H.,  gifts,  305 

Real  estate, 
Ownership,  33 
What  people  buy  with  it,  33 

Reconstruction, 
Needs,   11,   119 

Platform,  Chicago  Plan  Com- 
mission,   15 

Rejecting  opportunities,   118 

Responsibility  for  bad  govern- 
ment, 130 

Retail  shopping  district,  Chica- 
go, 191 

Right  plans  and  right  men,  87 

River  straightening,  Chicago, 
410 

Robinson,  Theodore  W.,  state- 
ment at  Commercial  Club 
Plan  Commission  dinner, 
January,   1910,  363 

Rosenwald,  Julius,  gifts,  305, 
308 

Ryerson,  Martin  A.,  247 

Salesmanship    in    city    planning. 

School  assembly  halls,  Chicago, 

309  .  . 

School    of    civics    and    philan- 
throphy,   Chicago,   302 
*  Sectional   prejudice,    140 

Selfish  property  owners,  139 

Shedd,  John  G.,  appreciation  of 
Charles  H.  Wacker,  334 

Slow-grinding  and  coarse-grind- 
ing tactics,   120 

Snow,  Bernard  W.,  remarks  at 
Commercial  Club  Plan  Com- 
mission dinner,  January, 
1910,  364 

Social,  intellectual,  and  moral 
upbuilding,  37 

Social  settlements,  Chicago,  306 

Solution  of  the  problem,  32 

Some  reasons  for  haste,  132 

South  Shore  Country  Club,  Chi- 
cago, 198 

South  Water  Street  improve- 
ment, Chicago,  406 

Spirit  of  civic  devotion,  36 

State  laws,  133 


Steamer  Slocuvi  disaster,  55 
Stock  Yards,  Chicago,  183 
Store    frontage,   Chicago,    i8g 
Street   openings    through   termi- 
nal district,  Chicago,  410 
Summary  of  city  planning  pro- 
cedure, 412 
Sunday  Evening  Club,  Chicago, 

Tax  levy,  Chicago,  213 
Teacher's    enrollment,    Chicago, 

220 
Technical, 

Bias,  20 

Blunders,  24 

Shortsightedness,  23 

Skill  fundamental,  31 
Terminal  congestion,  43 
Theological      schools,      Chicago, 

305    ..  . 

Three    divisions    of    city    plan- 
ning, 65 

Through       north       and       south 
streets,   Chicago,   410 

Time    wasted    acquiring    public 
improvements,   135 

Titanic    disaster,   55 

Traffic,   Chicago,   214 

Training    the     youth,     Chicago, 
296 

Transportation     basic    in    com- 
merce, 41 

Twelfth   Street, 
East   extension  to   Field  Mu- 
seum, Chicago,  408 
Improvement,     Chicago,     367- 
372 

Underpaid  school  teachers,  127 
Underpaying  of   public  officials, 

126 
Uniting  of  Merchants'  and  Com- 
mercial Clubs,  Chicago,  324 
Universal  training,  60 
University  of  Chicago,  297 
Unjust    attitude    toward    public 

officials,  126 
Unpreparedness  characteristic  of 

American  people,  59 
Utopian  dreamers,  64 


440 


INDEX 


Value  of, 

Acquaintance,  79 

Experience,  28 

Human  life,  44 
Virile  citizenship,  40 

Wacker,  Charles  H., 
A    new    Chicago    Plan    force, 

Address,  Fifth  National  Con- 
ference on  City  Planning, 
Chicago,   1913,  366 

Address,  first  meeting  of  Chi- 
cago  Plan  Commission,  356 

Admonition  "  Establish  the 
Plan  of  Chicago,"  85 

Appointed  vice-chairman  Com- 
mercial Club  Plan  Commit- 
tee, 324 

Chairman,  Chicago  Plan  Com- 
mission, 26 

Consults  Mayor  Fred  A.  Busse 
on  Appointment  of  Chicago 
Plan  Commission,  330 

Cooperating  with  city  author- 
ities,  129 

Definition  of  city  planning.  20 

Director  World's  Fair,  Chica- 
go,   1893,   215 

Leading  the  Chicago  Plan 
movement,   332 

Named  permanent  chairman, 
Chicago  Plan  Commission, 
356 

Railway  terminal  argument, 
387 


Reports  from  Mayor  Busse  on 

Plan  Commission,  331 
Succeeds    Charles    D.    Norton 
as  chairman  of  Commercial 
Club  Plan  Committee,  330 
Tribute  to   Frank   I.    Bennett, 
vice-chairman,  Chicago  Plan 
Commission,   333 
Wackcr's  Manual  of  the  Plan  of 

Chicago,  96 
Washington,  D.   C,   Plan   Com- 
mission, 329 
Washington  Park,  Chicago,  201 
Waterworks,   Chicago,  214 
Wealthy  citizens,  37 
Vv'estern    Society    of    Engineers, 

Plan  of  Chicago,  322 
What  city  planning  is,  21,  34 
Jl'ho's  Who  in  America,  260 
Wholesale  market,  Chicago,   195 
Wilson,   Walter   H.,   early   Plan 

of   Chicago  work,  320 
"Windy   City,"  the,    184 
Woman's     City    Club,    Chicago, 

310 
Women  of  Chicago,   152 
Working  backwards,  113 
World's    Columbian    Exposition, 
Chicago,  1893,  117,  172,  214, 
2S0.   3'i3 
World's  workers,  the,  81 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, Chicago,  307 

Young  Women's  Christian  As- 
sociation, Chicago,  .^08 


441 


